Hectic efforts are on to avert a full-fledged spilt in the Kerala Congress (Mani), a partner of the Congress-led United Democratic Front as both factions, P J Joseph and Jose K Mani, have been advised not to precipitate the issue by UDF partners.
The party had landed in trouble two months after founder K M Mani’s death. On Sunday, K M Mani’s son Jose K Mani, a Rajya Sabha MP, had appointed himself as the Chairman of the party ignoring party working chairman P J Joseph. On Monday, a local court in Idukki had stayed his election as the chairman. The worried Congress has asked both leaders not to precipitate the issue and waste the advantage the UDF got in the recent Lok Sabha elections. It had won 19 out of 20 seats.