Southern States - Kerala   

Kerala Cong(J) on the verge of a split

By George Jacob

KOTTAYAM May 29. The simmering strife in the LDF partner, the Kerala Congress(J), today came out in the open with the party chairman, P. J. Joseph, removing the rebel leader and MLA, P.C. George, from the post of general secretary in charge of office affairs. Meanwhile, Mr. George has refused to comply with the order on the ground that it is unconstitutional, thereby pushing the party to the verge of yet another split.

When contacted, Mr. Jospeh told The Hindu that for some time now Mr. George had been issuing statements unbecoming of the post he held in the party. His comments regarding the alleged talks the KC(J) had on merger with the Kerala Congress(M) and later the comments on his own parleys with the Communist Marxist Party (CMP) leadership had put not only the party but also the LDF in a bad light. It was against this backdrop that he was removed from the post, Mr. Joseph said.

On the other hand, it appears that the rebel leader is engaged in an effort to turn the situation into a show of strength as he has already mobilised support from both the working chairman, Eapen Varghese, and the vice-chairman, T. S. John.

When contacted, Mr. George refused to comment on the issue saying he was not interested in further vitiating the situation, but entrusted the responsibility to Mr. John, who said the move by the chairman was `suicidal'. According to him, Mr. Joseph has no right to remove the general secretary since he is not a properly elected chairman. Mr. John alleged that the move was part of an effort to remove the bottlenecks in the ultimate merger with the KC(M).

However, sources close to the party chairman said all posts other than those of the chairman, vice-chairman and treasurer were nominated posts and it was the prerogative of the chairman to nominate or remove an office-bearer. As such, the move was in order.

The present developments appear to be the logical culmination of the style of functioning which Mr. George has followed all through his political life. A loner who has refused to be part of any larger political edifice all through his career, Mr. George had fell out with Mr. Mani much earlier in his career and every one knew that he chose to continue in the Joseph faction (in spite of the powerful friends he has in other factions like the one led by T.M. Jacob) only because it gave a safe haven to carry on his fight with the KC(M) supremo.

However, it appears that the irrepressible Mr. George, who has never been an admirer of political correctness either with words or deeds, gave enough ammunition to his opponents within the party when he owned up his parleys with the CMP leader, M.V. Raghavan, during the height of the Rajya Sabha seat controversy. This had created a situation where even his friends in the CPI(M) could not help him in case of disciplinary action from the party leadership.

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