Jose K Mani's faction of Kerala Congress joins left-front

The Jose K Mani faction of the Kerala Congress (M), a prominent regional party in Kerala, has severed ties with Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and decided to align with the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).

The power tussle in the KC(M) following the death of party founder leader K M Mani last year resulted in the fresh developments.

KC(M) has considerable influence among the Christian vote banks of south and central Kerala and hence the left-front hopes to gain from the fresh tie-up in the upcoming local body and Assembly elections.

Jose K Mani, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, said that he would quit the post. Lok Sabha MP Thomas Chazhikkadan, MLAs Roshy Augustine and N Jayaraj are with Jose's faction, while the rival faction led by former minister P J Joseph has two MLAs - Joseph and Monce Joseph.

Announcing the much-awaited decision on Wednesday, Jose alleged that he faced injustice from a section of Congress leaders and the Congress was not even willing for any talks.

Meanwhile, Jose faction's entry to the left-front was learned to have not gone down well with the NCP, especially the current MLA of Pala Assembly seat in Kottayam district Mani C Kappan. KM Mani had been MLA of Pala for 54 years in a row till his death last year. In the subsequent by-polls Mani C Kappan won the seat for the left front.

A major hurdle in Jose faction's entry to left-front was over Pala seat. While Jose faction insisted on getting Pala seat, Kappan reiterated that he would not make any compromise on the seat. Kappan was also learned to be exploring options of joining Congress.

In 1979 also Kerala Congress (M) led by K M Mani joined the left-front. But it lasted only till 1982. After the 2016 Assembly polls in which the KC(M) won six of the 15 seats contested, KM Mani kept off from UDF for quite some time following certain differences. In 2018, KC(M) re-aligned with the UDF, and as part of that Jose K Mani was given a Rajya Seat of the Congress, amidst objections from within the Congress.

Left front leaders including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan welcomed the decision of Jose K Mani faction to join the left-front, while Congress leader and UDF convenor M M Hassan said that the left-front in Kerala was a sinking ship.

The present in-fight in KC (M) broke out with Jose K Mani claiming the chairman post after K M Mani's death, while P J Joseph claimed that being the party working chairman he would be party chief. UDF later accused Jose K Mani faction of not abiding by an earlier understanding with the Joseph faction over sharing a panchayat president post. A legal fight between the Joseph and Jose faction over rights over the party is also going on.