Jose faction bags Kottayam panchayat president post

KOTTAYAM: With the blessings of the UDF leadership, Sebastian Kulathunkal of the Jose K Mani faction in the Kerala Congress (M) was on Thursday elected as the Kottayam district panchayat president. Kulathunkal’s election was made possible after Ajith Muthiramala, for whom party acting chairman P J Joseph had issued a whip to the members, withdrew from the fray in the morning.

Earlier, efforts by senior Congress leaders Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala and Mullappally Ramachandran to broker a truce between the warring factions had failed. With the talks held in Thiruvananthapuram ending sans a consensus in the early hours of Thursday, the Congress leadership decided to back Mani, keeping in mind the upcoming Pala bypolls.

After the election, a fuming P J Joseph slammed the UDF leadership for yielding to Mani’s threats. The rift widening between the two factions may prove to be a headache for the UDF ahead of the Pala bypolls.

The election, set to be held on Wednesday, was postponed after the Congress members decided to keep away, resulting in a lack of quorum. Joseph and Mani had issued separate whips leading to an uncertain situation, forcing the Congress members to abstain.

With the consensus talks failing, the Congress had mooted fielding its candidate for the post. Jose is learnt to have rejected this and said that he would ensure the win of his candidate with LDF support. Following this, it was decided to divide the remaining 14 months of the UDF rule between the two factions. Jose insisted that he needed the first term since the Pala bypolls was fast nearing.