With backchannel attempts to resolve the internal squabble in the Kerala Congress (M) failing , the Jose K. Mani faction has stepped up pressure for selecting a new chairman.
The leadership of the Kerala Trade Union Congress (M), the trade union arm of the KC(M), on Thursday made a public demand to acting chairman P.J. Joseph for convening the State committee and select the new chairman through a democratic process.
“It has been two months since our founder leader K.M. Mani passed away and the party is going through an unprecedented situation of having no stable leadership. As the leaders have failed to reach a consensus on the next chairman, the party State committee should immediately be convened as stipulated by the party constitution,” said Jose Puthenkala, president, KTUC(M). The recent attempts by the Catholic Church and a few United Democratic Front leaders to negotiate a deal between the factions had broken down with both sides sticking to their stance.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife that the Mani faction is set to convene a meeting of the KC(M) State committee on its own as Mr. Joseph is firm on not convening the committee any time soon.
A couple of days ago, the Mani faction had served a letter, signed by one-fourth or 127 members on the KC(M) State committee, to the acting chairman demanding convening of the committee.