With just a few days left for the Election Commission of India to conduct a hearing on the leadership dispute in the Kerala Congress (M), the Jose K. Mani faction has launched a full-scale attack on party working chairman P.J. Joseph by casting aspersions on his character and integrity.
In an article titled `When Joseph’s strategies boomeranged’ that appeared on the latest issue of Prathichaya, the party mouthpiece, the faction criticised Mr. Joseph for his vituperative attack on Mr. Mani. It further sought to invoke memories of the controversial flight travel case involving Mr. Joseph and the factors that had forced him to seek refuge in the KC(M).
“Having been forced to resign as a minister for his alleged involvement in the case, Mr. Joseph became a minister once again when the complainant unilaterally withdrew from the case. On understanding that he and his party had no future in the Left Democratic Front (LDF), Mr. Joseph approached the KC(M) with the help of a few mediators. Then party chairman K.M. Mani, who had always been so well meaning towards his enemies, unconditionally welcomed him to the party,’’ it noted.
Despite this, Mr. Joseph had never really bothered to return the courtesy and stood silent when the senior Mani faced attacks from all quarters in the bar bribery case. Had Mr. Joseph, who also happened to be Mani’s colleague in the State cabinet then, raised his voice against the attack on the senior Mani, the history of KC(M) or even the Kerala politics for that matter, would have taken a different turn.
The article further accused Mr. Joseph of his desperate efforts to take over the party reigns from Jose K. Mani, who enjoyed the majority support. While calling Mr. Mani as a deceit on the one hand, the Machiavellian strategies adopted by Mr. Joseph came to the fore during the recent byelection in Pala, it added.
