Kottayam: After the Congress led UDF lost the Pala assembly seat to CPI(M) led LDF, the infighting in the UDF has reached a crescendo, with leaders blaming each other for the humiliating defeat.
Pala assembly seat had been represented by Congress ally Kerala Congress (M) since the inception of the constituency since 1965. Therefore, the defeat at the hands of LDF is seen as a humiliating defeat for Kerala Congress (M).
The UDF candidate Jose Tom today blamed the Working Chairman of Kerala Congress, P. J. Joseph, for the defeat. He said that the chairman is solely responsible for the defeat in the by election. Jose Tom also accused that Joseph is trying to shift the blame on Jose K. Mani, the leader of the faction against P. J. Joseph.
Jose Tom, who is a leading leader of the Jose K. Mani faction, was speaking to the media when he accused the party Chairman for being behind the defeat.
The candidate also said that P. J. Joseph’s agenda was that the Kerala Congress (M) candidate must lose so that the Jose K. Mani faction would not gain an upper-hand in front of election commission in their tussle for the leadership of the party.
Jose Tom also revealed his frustration against the Congress party for failing to stick to its promise to convince P. J. Joseph to give permission to use the party symbol in the elections.
Without the permission of the Chairman, Jose Tom faced the election without the symbol of his party. The infighting in the Kerala Congress (M) gave a poor image about the party in the constituency. The former leader K. M. Mani had build up a deep relation with the people of the constituency and was able to hold the party together even when though many leaders left it to form splinter parties.
However, since Mani’s death, the infighting between the party leaders have projected a an image of disunity and weakness. This had seriously affected the electoral prospect of the Kerala Congress (M).
