THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The EC’s decision has not only ruffled the feathers of the PJ Joseph faction, but also the UDF. The UDF liaison committee meeting scheduled for Thursday has been postponed, but Jose K Mani walking away with the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol has upset the front’s plans to oust them.
Though the UDF has claimed that the meeting has been postponed due to the inconvenience of IUML leaders, it is the EC’s decision which played spoilsport. When the two MLAs of the Jose faction, Prof N Jayaraj and Roshy Augustine, stayed away from the no-confidence motion discussion and the Rajya Sabha election on August 24, the UDF seethed in anger, much to the happiness of the rival Joseph faction. It was then decided to hold the UDF meeting on Thursday.
Congress MP K Muraleedharan told TNIE that when it comes to KC(M) voters, the ‘Two leaves’ symbol represents sentiments.“When it comes to the EC, they always look for how many leaders are there for a party in the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the assembly. Jose faction has Thomas Chazhikadan in the LS, Jose in the RS and two MLAs. Joseph faction has only three MLAs — P J Joseph, C F Thomas and Mons Joseph,” he said.
With the next Parliament session scheduled to begin on September 14, the 19 UDF MPs are expected to travel to New Delhi by September 10. This has forced the UDF to convene the front’s next meeting before that.“We are adopting a wait and watch policy on the symbol going to Jose faction. Though it is an internal matter of KC(M), we do not want to provoke them as the leaders are keen to give the warring factions one more chance,” UDF convener Benny Behanan told TNIE.