Jose K. Mani likely to get renominated to RS from Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 9 Stage is all set for Jose K. Mani, who heads the third biggest ally in the coalition government, to get a renomination to the Rajya Sabha.

The election to the seat will be held on November 29 here, when the Kerala Legislators will vote.

Jose, who is the son of late K.M. Mani the founder of Kerala Congress (M), had quit his Rajya Sabha seat which he had won when K.M. Mani was with the Congress-led UDF in 2018.

The reason for his quitting the seat then was the breaking of party soon after the demise of K.M. Mani. While the faction led by P.J. Joseph chose to remain with the Congress-led UDF, Jose Mani decided to leave the UDF and joined the Left last year.

According to a source in the know of things, Jose was not very keen for the seat and had decided to give it to some other leader of his party, but the CPI-M was adamant that if not Jose, then it would be taken by them.

It was following this decision that Jose decided to take the seat.

The political stock of Jose suffered a major reversal when he was defeated by sitting legislator Mani C. Kappen from the Pala Assembly seat in Kottayam district which for 52 years was represented by the father of Jose K.M. Mani.

Kappen had won the seat when he was with the NCP, an ally of the Left, in a by-election in 2019 and after the Left decided to field Jose in the April 6 Assembly polls, Kappen quit the NCP. He formed his own party and joined the Congress-led UDF and contested the seat and won.

Jose's political fortunes nosedived with his failure to win his seat, but three others from his party became legislators, and one Roshy Augustine became the State Water Resources Minister.

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