The Congress on Wednesday achieved a major breakthrough in its attempts to quell the factional feud in Thrikkakara, with the re-election of Ajith Babu Joseph as chairman of the Thrikkakara Municipal Development Standing Committee.
Deputy Collector of Land Acquisition and Returning officer K.A. Varghese declared Mr. Joseph as the winner in the election held on Tuesday. Of the total seven votes in the council, he won four votes while M.A. Mohanan, his rival candidate won three votes.
Both the candidates had filed their nominations on Tuesday. The election of Mr. Joseph serves as a major relief to the party leadership, which has been working to iron out the differences between ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups. His resignation from the post, as a mark of protest to the re-election of Ajitha Thankappan as chairperson of the Municipal Public Works Committee, caused a major embarrassment to the party.
While resigning, Mr. Joseph had blamed P.A. Mohammed Ali, leader of ‘A’ group councillors, for taking unilateral decisions while keeping others in the dark. He also accused Benny Behanan, Thrikkakara MLA, of refusing to intervene in the issue despite repeated requests from ‘A’ group councillors.
An understanding with regard to nominating Mr. Joseph to the post was reached on September 15 during a discussion between the dissident councillor and the party leadership.
Meanwhile, the impasse over the resignation of Angamaly chairman C.K. Varghese and Edathala panchayat president M A.M. Muneer is yet to be resolved with both the parties sticking to the earlier stand. However, District Congress Committee president V.J. Poulose warned strict action against them including expulsion from the party membership.
“The decision with regard to the resignation of Mr. Varghese will be taken during a meeting of the parliamentary party on Thursday while we are being forced to expel Mr. Muneer from the party membership as well as from the president’s post as he is still refusing to comply with a direction to resign,” Mr. Poulose said.
