Staying true to its reputation of ‘growing by mutation,’ the Kerala Congress witnessed yet another split here on Friday when one of its splinter groups, Kerala Congress (Jacob), further divided into two groups.
The vertical split, which marks the culmination of a protracted power struggle between the party chairman Johnny Nellore and party leader Anoop Jacob, MLA, is expected to trigger a major realignment of forces within the broad platform of the regional party.
Among the two groups that took shape on Friday, the faction led by Mr. Nellore is slated to merge with the KC(M) group led by P.J. Joseph. The group led by Mr. Jacob, will stay as an independent party, at least for the time being.
Announcing the decision to merge with the Joseph group at a joint meeting to be held in Ernakulam on February 29, Mr. Nellore accused Mr. Jacob of attempting to weaken the party from within for the interest of a few. “I prefer to remain as an ordinary worker of the Kerala Congress led by Mr. Joseph than staying as the chairman of a much smaller outfit,” he said, while addressing the party workers in Kottayam.
Earlier in the day, the high-power committee and state committee meetings convened by Mr. Joseph formally accorded permission to proceed with the merger plan. The State committee meeting convened by Mr. Jacob at the KC(Jacob) office here, meanwhile, reported an earlier decision by the high power committee to wind up the merger plans and resolved to go ahead as KC(Jacob).
Speaking on the occasion, he accused Mr. Nellore of initiating anti-party activities and that a three-member commission had been appointed to initiate further action. “Mr. Nellore has just left the party and not split it vertically. You cannot really call it a split if only a handful of people are leaving an organiastion,” Mr. Jacob said.
While Mr. Jacob had claimed the support of 11 district committees and majority of State leaders, Mr. Nellore had held that two out of three vice presidents, the office-charge general secretary and eight district committees were with him.
According to observers, the latest round of split is expected to set off a series of legal battles as in the case of KC(M). While the KC (Jacob) party constitution envisages equal division of power between the chairman and the party leader, it stipulates the chairman to function in concurrence with the party leader.
