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KC(M) chairman says will stick with LDF
Mani reaffirmed that his party’s loyalties lie with the CPM-led LDF and that power will remain where his party stands.
Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose K Mani cut short his private foreign tour to return to the state on Wednesday to quell all speculations about his party warming up towards the Congress-led UDF.
Mani, the chief of the regional outfit, which primarily commands influence among Catholics and farmers in central Kerala, reaffirmed that his party’s loyalties lie with the CPM-led LDF and that power will remain where his party stands.
“The Kerala Congress (M) has only one stand. We are with the Left front. I cannot come everyday and say this. Who is conducting these so-called discussions? No one should cry for us,” Mani, a Rajya Sabha MP, told reporters in Kottayam.
There have been media reports that the KC(M) leadership is holding unofficial backchannel talks with the Congress to initiate its return to the UDF. The KC(M), which joined the LDF in 2020, had left the UDF following the demise of Jose’s father and then party chairman KM Mani and a long feud with the PJ Joseph-led faction of the Kerala Congress.
“Such media speculations are proof of the strength of our party. Wherever KC(M) is, there will be power,” said Mani.
The KC(M) top leadership is set to meet for the party’s steering committee on January 16 where discussions are expected to revolve around the need to shift alliances especially in the backdrop of the local body polls in which the LDF suffered a drubbing at the hands of the UDF. The KC(M)’s performance was below-par, failing to even wrest control of Pala municipality in its stronghold.
“There are no differences within the party. All five MLAs will stand together. Many opinions will come up during party discussions and a single decision will be made,” he added.
KPCC chief Sunny Joseph told reporters that no talks have been held with the KC(M) leadership.
“We have not conducted any talks. The popular base of the coalition is expanding and more prominent persons from other parties will join us,” he said.
Meanwhile, the cabinet on Wednesday cleared leasing of 25 cents land in Kowdiar in Thiruvananthapuram city to set up the KM Mani Memorial Institute for Social Transformation, to be named after the late founder of KC(M).
