However party vice chairman P C Thomas and vice president Skaria Thomas and party MLA V Surendran Pillai and several other leaders decided to continue with the LDF and announced dismissal of Joseph from the party. P C Thomas is elected as the new chairman of the Kerala Congress(J).
Meanwhile the entry of Joseph through the back door into the UDF has resulted in heavy criticism from the Congress party with the office bearers seeking explanation from Kerala Congress (Mani) group chairman K M Mani on how Joseph would be inducted into the UDF.
State Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala told media persons that the Congress has strong reservations about Joseph, who has several corruption cases against him and said that senior party leader Oomen Chandy would talk to K M Mani on the strong reservations that the Congress party has over the decision of the Joseph group merging with the UDF. Chennithala also said that Mani should have informed the UDF about this development.
Kerala Congress (Mani) leader K M Mani however said that the merger was an internal matter of the party and that there is no need to inform the UDF on this.
In Kozhikode the CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said that the faction owing allegiance to P C Thomas would be part of the LDF and added that Joseph has never mentioned about any ideological differences with the CPI-M or any other constituent of the LDF.
Pinarayi also lashed out against some Catholic Bishops and saying that they had no role to play in the political landscape of the state.
