Thiruvananthapuram: There is a letter-writing competition among the Kerala Congress (M) factions to prove their majority. Party organisational secretary Joy Abraham, a loyalist of the late chairman K. M. Mani, has joined hands with acting chairman P. J. Joseph and sent a letter to the Election Commission saying that Joseph is the chairman. But Jose K. Mani faction leader B. Manoj retaliated by writing to the commission disputing Joy Abraham's claim. Earlier, Manoj had secured an order from the fourth additional court here against Joseph's move to elect a new chairman at K.M. Mani's memorial day programme.
Roshy Augustine, KC (M) MLA and a loyalist of Jose K. Mani, told reporters that Joy Abraham had violated the party by-law."We never expected such a move from Joseph. The letter is a grave violation of party discipline," he said.
The Joseph faction has no clear majority in either the parliamentary party or the state committee. Rajya Sabha MP Jose K. Mani, Kottayam MP-elect Thomas Chazhikadan, MLAs N. Jayaraj and Roshy Augustine belong to the Mani faction. Mons Joseph MLA owes allegiance to the Joseph faction. Senior MLA C. F. Thomas has not made his stand clear, but he is unhappy with the latest developments. General secretary Joseph M. Puthussery is also upset. The majority view among the leaders is that C. F. Thomas should be made the chairman, Joseph parliamentary party leader and Jose K. Mani working chairman. But Joseph does not want to step down as working chairman.
Jose K. Mani has not reacted to the letter sent by Joy Abraham. Only a handful of senior leaders support Jose K. Mani.
