The Communist Party of India (Marxist) does not see any space for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Indian National League (INL) in the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The party State secretariat and the State committee, which discussed the issue threadbare at their meetings here over the last few days, are understood to have come to the conclusion that the best course for the LDF would be to have a formal tie-up with the two parties without necessarily making them constituents of the ruling alliance. Giving membership to the two parties in the alliance could result in claims for Cabinet berth from them and this is something that the party would like to avoid, CPI(M) sources told The Hindu.
The party is against parallels being drawn between the P.C. Thomas faction of the Kerala Congress on the one hand and the NCP and the INL on the other. There is opposition within the CPI(M) to accommodating the NCP in the front as it is an ally of the Congress at the Centre. As for the INL, the State leadership would be able to take any such decision only after the party Polit Bureau and the Central Committee take a call on the issue. Among the front constituents, the Communist Party of India (CPI) is stated to be supportive of NCP's inclusion in the alliance, but the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) is not.
The CPI(M) decision to accommodate the Thomas faction in the LDF has also not gone down well with the CPI and the RSP. Both the parties had opposed the proposal at the last LDF State committee meeting. They gave in only when the CPI(M) leadership insisted on it. However, they were successful in blocking an immediate decision on inducting the NCP and the INL into the LDF. Now that the CPI(M) itself has developed second thoughts on the issue, the front leadership is likely to revisit the whole proposal from a different light.
The CPI(M) leadership insisted on accommodating the Thomas faction in the LDF because it did not want to be seen as having left it in the lurch after former Revenue Minister P.J. Joseph decided to lead the bulk of the party out of the LDF. The CPI(M) leadership is also amenable to giving a Cabinet berth to the only Thomas faction legislator V. Surendran Pillai, though not the Public Works portfolio. Although a final decision would be taken by the CPI(M), indications being given out by party sources suggest that it is likely to take the other constituents also into confidence before the final call.
