The executive committee of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee which met here on Monday approved the decision of the party leadership to strike electoral ties with the RSP which had quit the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front.
Briefing the media after the meeting, KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran said the executive had approved the next phase of talks with the RSP leadership. The issue would be placed before the UDF high-power committee meeting here on Tuesday for formal clearance.
Asked whether the move to forge electoral ties with the RSP would be viewed as an alliance of convenience, he said it was not a unilateral decision by the Congress but a democratic decision involving all the UDF partners.
“As an LDF partner, the RSP had stood by the policies and programmes of the coalition. Now that they have come out of the alliance, we are ready to accommodate them,” he said.
Mr. Sudheeran said the decision of the KPCC executive to forge electoral ties with the RSP was by and large unanimous, though a few leaders had expressed reservations.
He said the executive meeting had also approved the decision to accommodate the UDF coalition partners in the seat- sharing exercise for the Lok Sabha elections.
The party, he said, saw this as a victory for the UDF and a morale booster for the rank and file rather than a loss for the Congress.
The KPCC executive decided to constitute a campaign coordination committee chaired by C.V.Padmarajan. Another committee headed by K.P.Anilkumar will coordinate the activities of the control room and the visit of national leaders to the State. The meeting also decided to set up a third committee to coordinate the party’s campaign through the social media.
