Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K Mani on Tuesday threatened legal action against senior leader PJ Joseph and MLAs in his faction for violating a whip issued to abstain from the voting held in the recent Rajya Sabha bypoll from the state. This after Jose K Mani’s faction was recognised by the Election Commission as the Kerala Congress (M).
Buoyed by the victory between his faction and the rival one led by PJ Joseph over getting the ‘two leaves’ symbol, Jose said those who won the elections on the party symbol should come back to the Kerala Congress (M) fold. Otherwise,they will face disqualification,he added.
The Joseph faction, however, said it will legally challenge the EC decision.
On August 30, the Election Commission recognised the group led by Jose K Mani as the Kerala Congress (M), granting them permission to use its name and symbol ‘Two Leaves’.
"There is only one Kerala Congress after the EC verdict in our favour. We don't have any enmity towards anyone. The doors of the party are open for those who left the party and joined the rival faction due to some misunderstanding," Jose told reporters at Pala.
Noting that MLA Roshi Augustine had issued a whip to all Kerala Congress (M) MLAs to abstain from voting in the recent Rajya Sabha polls, Jose, son of late Kerala Congress stalwart KM Mani, said those who violated the party whip will face legal action.
"According to the Assembly records, Roshi Augustine is the Kerala Congress (M) Whip," Jose noted.
While PJ Joseph and his supporter Mons Joseph voted for the UDF candidate in the Rajya Sabha by-election violating the whip, supporters of Jose, including Roshi Augustine and N Jeyaraj, were not present in the bypoll held on August 24.
MLA CF Thomas, who is part of the Joseph faction, also did not vote in the bypoll which saw the victory of M V Shreyams Kumar, state president of the ruling LDF ally Loktantrik Janata Party.
Jose said at present the party is not associated with any political front in the state and it will take a political decision on the matter before the upcoming local body polls.
Meanwhile, after the Jose faction's victory in the tussle for official recognition, the Congress-led UDF on Tuesday said it had not ousted the Jose K Mani faction from the front.
"Technically Jose K Mani group is part of the UDF," UDF chairman and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ramesh Chennithala told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
The UDF, which had threatened to oust the Jose faction for taking a stand against the UDF candidate in the Rajya Sabha bypoll, postponed the front's meeting scheduled for September 3 in view of the fresh developments.
Jose faction's issues with the UDF leadership aggravated in June this year after it was "ousted" from the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in connection with the tussle over the Kottayam district panchayat chief post.
The UDF leadership had later rectified it saying the Jose group was not ousted from the front and it was only temporarily barred from the UDF meeting for refusing to honour an agreement made in public with the coalition front over sharing the Kottayam district panchayat president's post.