With its fragile association with the United Democratic Front cracking under pressure, the stage is now set for formal parleys between the Kerala Congress (M) led by Jose K. Mani and the Left Democratic Front for the party’s entry into the front.
The party leadership has entrusted Mr. Mani to decide on its stance. Indeed, he was waiting for the Congress-led coalition’s decision on the Kuttanad seat to kick start discussions with the rival camp.
The alliance, regarded unlikely till recently, will in theory enjoy a relative comfortable relationship, but will rely on a handful of factors, including the performance in the coming local body elections.
While the KC(M)’s wish list definitely includes maximum number of seats in the Assembly election next year, it is yet to be clear whether the LDF will concede straightaway or wait for an evaluation of its strength at the grassroots level in the local body polls.
“Of the 15 seats from which the KC(M) contested in the previous Assembly election, nominees of the K.M. Mani faction accounted for majority of the seats. While switching sides, the party will be keen to retain those 11 seats with it,” a party leader said.
But with Mani C. Kappen, NCP leader and present Pala legislator, expressing his unwillingness to give up the constituency, which incidentally is regarded as the bastion of the Mani group, there are certain core issues that need deliberations. Similarly, it may not be easy for the LDF to embrace a party that it has criticised and opposed for the best part of the previous four decades.
The party, however, still counts on ensuring a swift transition to the LDF by highlighting ‘the discriminatory treatment meted out to it by the UDF’. This was all too evident when Mr.Mani addressed the media in Kottayam on Tuesday, soon after the UDF decided to allocate the Kuttanad seat to the Joseph group.
“Those who allege that we have betrayed the UDF remain shockingly silent on the attempts by Mr. Joseph to defeat our candidate in Pala last year. Without making any fuss, I filed a complaint to the UDF leadership requesting action against Mr.Joseph. However, no action has been taken so far,” he said.
He also accused the UDF of dishonouring the soul of K.M. Mani, the founder leader of the coalition, by trying to award the legacy of the deceased leader to “those who tried to hijack and destroy the KC(M)”.
