KOTTAYAM:
Dispelling speculation that the Kerala Congress (Mani), the third biggest ally in the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), is unhappy and is seeking greener pastures, the chairman of the party and Rajya Sabha member Jose K. Mani said “they are a happy lot”.
Mani said this on Friday ahead of a meeting of the party. “The news that we are moving base is only in the air, and we have had no discussions about it at all with anyone. We are happy in the Left Democratic Front,” said Jose.
Incidentally, Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan in the past week has said on multiple occasions that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is all set for expansion, as “unbelievable political things will happen”.
Jose is the son of the legendary leader K.M. Mani, who founded the Kerala Congress party in the sixties. He passed away in 2019.
His record of being the longest-serving legislator was beaten by Congress legend Oommen Chandy just before he passed away in 2023.
Mani’s party over the years have seen numerous factions emerging, and his stock statement every time a split occurs is that the “Kerala Congress splits as it grows and grows as it splits”.
The party has, over the years, also moved between the two traditional rival political fronts — the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which Jose is now part of.
At present, there are various factions of the erstwhile Kerala Congress, and they include Kerala Congress and Kerala Congress(Jacob), both in the UDF, while in the ruling Left, apart from Kerala Congress (M), there are the Kerala Congress(B) and the Democratic Kerala Congress.
One faction, which was led by seven-time veteran former legislator P.C. George, merged his party with the BJP. He joined the party in January 2024.
Incidentally, it was during the 2020 local body polls that the party led by Jose moved towards the Left from the UDF and just before the 2021 Assembly polls, his party was made a permanent member of the Left.
“Our meeting is being held to draw out a strategy for the soon-to-be-held local body polls,” added Jose.
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