Ending speculations that the Kerala Congress (M) is heading for a split, party working chairman P.J. Joseph has withdrawn his claim to contest in the Kottayam Lok Sabha seat but vowed to continue his fight to ensure intra-party democracy.
Addressing media persons at Thodupuzha on Saturday evening, Mr. Joseph accused the KC(M) leadership of deliberately keeping him out of the candidature though the parliamentary party meeting had discussed only his name. ‘‘They even resorted to blatant regionalism to shoot down my candidature,’’ he said.
Though the Congress had agreed to consider him for the Idukki seat, it did not materialise as their demand was to contest on the Congress party symbol. Mr. Joseph decided to turn down the proposal by taking into account the larger interests of his party.
Asserting that he had faced injustice through denial of seat, Mr. Joseph accused party vice chairman Jose K. Mani of shutting down all possibilities of a settlement. ‘‘He was not even ready for a discussion when a proposal to exchange the Kottayam seat for Idukki came up,’’ he said.
To another query, Mr. Joseph said that he was committed to work towards ensuring the victory of all UDF candidates.
In response to Mr. Joseph’s statements, Mr. Jose K. Mani said there had been no two approaches in the KC(M) while selecting its candidates to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. While the nomination of Mr. Jose K. Mani to the Rajya Sabha candidate had been made unanimously, the party had to choose from several names while selecting its candidate for the Lok Sabha seat, he said.