Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 22 (IANS): The Kerala Congress-B, which has one legislator in the Assembly, has split with the children of the founder now leading the rival factions.
The KC-B was founded by veteran R. Balakrishna Pillai but after his death in May, a war broke out in his family between the three siblings.
Pillai has two daughters and one son - actor-turned-legislator K.B.Ganesh Kumar and the sisters appear to be together against him.
Of the two sisters, Usha Mohandas on Tuesday chaired a faction meeting of the KC-B, which claimed to have 10 of the 12 district president of the party present, while two districts do not have a president.
After Pillai's death, Ganesh Kumar had become the acting Chairman of the party but at the meeting on Tuesday, Mohandas was appointed as the new Chairperson.
Talking to the media later, she said there is no doubt Ganesh Kumar is a good legislator, but "behaves in an autocratic manner, which is not good for a democratic party". She added that a majority of the state committee members of the party were with them.
A senior leader of the party remarked that they will do their best to ensure that Ganesh Kumar is with the party, but if he acts arbitrarily and against the wishes of the party, then they will have to take strong action against him.
Ganesh Kumar has been representing the Pathanapuram assembly constituency in Kollam district from 2001 onwards and he was a Minister in the A.K.Antony cabinet from 2001-04, following which he was replaced by his father Pillai.
He again became a Minister in the 2011 Oommen Chandy-led Congress ministry, but had to quit in 2013, following complaints raised by his then wife.
And with the relations with Pillai and the Congress-led UDF getting strained just before the 2016 Assembly polls, the KC-B moved towards the Left and it was only last year that they were made part of the Left Democratic Front.
Had it not been the bickering in the family, Kumar would have been made a Cabinet Minister in the second Pinarayi Vijayan government.
Small parties in the ruling Left are having issues as was seen recently in the Indian National League (INL) and Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD).