 "UDF ally Kerala Congress (M) likely to join Left Democratic Front")
Ahead of the upcoming Kerala civic body and Assembly polls, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) has managed to woo the Kerala Congress(M), or the KC(M), led by Jose K Mani, to its fold.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was one of the first to welcome the decision of the KC(M) to break away from the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and align with the LDF on Wednesday.
"The KC(M) has abandoned the UDF politics of 38 years and said that the Left is right. The next steps will be decided by a Left Democratic Front meeting," said the Kerala CM.
Jose, son of late K M Mani, former finance minister in the UDF government, on the other hand, said he would step down as the Rajya Sabha member that he won as a nominee of the UDF.
At a press meet held at Kottayam, he targeted both the Congress and his new rival P J Joseph.
"The Congress party insulted those who stood by K M Mani, including the MLAs. Instead of finding an amicable settlement, the UDF ousted us for a panchayat post. All the while, the Congress was supporting P J Joseph who backstabbed the party and belittled the legacy of K M Mani," said Jose, while announcing his decision to join the LDF.
It was a dispute with the P J Joseph faction regarding the Kottayam district panchayat president post that saw UDF ousting Jose, which finally paved way for him to the LDF camp.
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The CPI(M) calculates that the KC(M) has a formidable vote bank in the Christian belt of Kottayam and Idukki districts, which could be beneficial, particularly with the civic polls round the corner.
When the UDF government was in power, the LDF had raised an allegation of a bar bribery scam against K M Mani and conducted several protests. The LDF MLAs even tried to stop him from presenting the Budget in the Assembly. The bar bribery was one of the main campaign planks of the LDF in the 2016 Assembly polls.