The Kerala Congress, which had been raising a hue and cry for the past several days for one more seat from the UDF in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, will ultimately settle for the one seat the party has at present, highly placed sources in the party have said.
While the Kerala Congress (Joseph) fraction merged with the Kerala Congress (Mani) and joined the UDF, there is bickering within the party as the middle and lower level leaders and cadre have still not gelled together. With Jose K Mani MP firmly saddled in New Delhi as the Rajya Sabha MP, K M Mani is more or less satisfied with the present position and is not much keen on fighting the Congress for an extra seat.
Joseph, said a senior leader of KC(M), was also raising the bogey of a second seat for a comfortable launchpad for his son Appu John Joseph to the LS. Joseph, it is learnt, did not object to Jose K Mani getting the Rajya Sabha seat despite being a sitting Lok Sabha MP keeping in mind Appu’s future prospects.