Thiruvananthapuram: The Jose K Mani faction of the Kerala Congress (M) has further distanced itself from the United Democratic Front (UDF) by not participating in the Assembly proceedings on Monday.
The two MLAs of the faction, Roshy Augustine and N Jayaraj, abstained from voting in the no-confidence motion against the LDF government and did not take part in the Rajya Sabha election.
Questions are being raised on why they should be retained in the Congress-led front. A final decision would be taken during the UDF meet to be held on September 3.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that the MLAs of the Jose K Mani faction had betrayed the UDF.
"The two MLAs, who won the election under the UDF banner, were duty-bound to support the front," he added.
UDF convener Benny Behanan too reacted strongly to this.
However, the Jose K Mani faction leaders pointed out that after their ouster from the UDF, they had decided to take an independent stand.
“Then how can we take a different stand in the Assembly? The party did not back the LDF either. Nor did we take part in the no-confidence motion,” they said, adding that there was still time for talks.
The UDF convener had initially said that the Jose K Mani faction was ousted from the front over the Kottayam district president row. But then he later softened the stand and said that the decision was to keep the faction out of the leadership meets of the front.
Based on this, both the Congress and the Muslim League made efforts to bring the Jose K Mani faction back to the UDF fold. But the faction refused to comply.
Though it did not say no to talks, the faction's decision not to back the UDF in the Assembly has further diminished any hopes of reconciliation.
Meanwhile, P J Joseph and Jose K Mani continue their verbal battle over the non-compliance of the whips, issued by both the factions.
Jose K Mani MP said, "We will file a complaint with the Speaker against MLAs P J Joseph and Mons Joseph for not complying with the party whip. We were with the UDF for 38 years. And were ousted from the front for no reason. The demand to vote for UDF was a mere ploy to fool the public.”
However, P J Joseph MLA said, "Action would be taken against the MLAs of the Jose K Mani faction for abstaining from the no-confidence motion. As the legislature party leader, I will submit a letter to the Speaker on the non-compliance of the whip.”
