Thiruvananthapuram, May 5 (Inditop.com) Kerala’s opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) seems unhappy with a backdoor entry, with a constituent having unilaterally brought in a party from the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) into its fold.
Kerala Congress (Mani) has merged Kerala Congress (Joseph), which has so far been part of the LDF.
The UDF consists of the Congress, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Kerala Congress (M), Janadiyapathiya Samrakshana Samithi, a faction of the Janata Dal-Secular, Kerala Congress (B), Kerala Congress (Jacob) and a faction of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP).
The LDF used to include the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI), Congress-S, Indian National League and Kerala Congress (Joseph) and RSP. But now Kerala Congress (Joseph) has split.
The UDF appeared to be confident ahead of local bodies polls that are due in a few months and assembly elections, 11 months from now. But what has rattled it is the announcement that the majority faction of the Kerala Congress (Joseph) led by former minister P.J. Joseph was merging into the Kerala Congress (M) of K.M. Mani.
Joseph resigned as minister last Friday after his faction decided to merge with that of Kerala Congress-M, ending 21 years of association with the LDF.
“This is purely an internal matter of our party and the decision that various Kerala Congress parties should unite has been a long standing desire among the rank and file,” said Mani, a veteran of Kerala politics who has had an uninterrupted stint as a legislator since 1965.
But the Congress appears to be in no mood to relent, seeing it as an alliance of convenience and not one of conviction. The Congress has in the past decade led numerous protests against Joseph, alleging corruption.
Leader of opposition Oommen Chandy has lashed out at ally Kerala Congress-M for announcing the merger without consulting the rest of UDF.
“Any such mergers or alignments between parties in our experience has been rejected by people (UDF alliance with K. Karunakaran’s party in 2004 had backfired). So we have to learn from past experience. Hence it is all the more important that it has to have the clearance of the UDF,” said Chandy.
IUML, which had so far been the second biggest party in the UDF, now shares the position with Kerala Congress-M.
Things are not all hunky dory for Joseph either.
Hours after Joseph resigned, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said Joseph had sanctioned a lot of contracts violating norms in the past two months. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said there would be inquiries.
Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said if the finance minister asks for an investigation, a vigilance probe would be initiated into the allegations.
