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Kerala CPM wants deserters back in LDF
Fatigued by frequent desertions from the party by top leaders and sympathizers and worried over the increase in the strength of the Congress-led ruling UDF, the Kerala CPI(M), leading the eight-party Opposition LDF, has started inviting parties that had left the front in the recent past back to it.
However, the Marxists have not so far been able to receive any positive responses from the deserters, mainly the Kerala Congress (J) which left the LDF in June, 2010 citing no specific reason for departure and the Socialist Janata (Democratic) – a split-away group of the Janata Dal (Secular) – which deserted the front during the 2009 Lok Sabha election.
Observers say that even State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, who earlier this week made the first call to the deserters to return, might not have expected something positive to happen abruptly but he had indeed succeeded in sowing the seeds of confusion and suspicion in the Congress-led ruling coalition.
On Friday, PJ Joseph, who had led his loyalists in the Kerala Congress (J) out of the LDF to merge with the Kerala Congress (M) of Finance Minister KM Mani and thus become part of the UDF, said in Delhi that there was no situation for his party to leave the UDF. Observers say that this was a reaction intended at removing any possible doubts in the ruling front.
MP Veerendra Kumar, chief of the Socialist Janata (Democratic) which he formed in 2009 after leaving the LDF in protest against the CPI(M)’s hegemonic attitude, said the other day that Pinarayi Vijayan should keep no hope of their return to the Left front. Both the Joseph faction in the KC(M) and the SJ(D) have one Minister each in the UDF Cabinet.
On Friday, Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan offered an indirect invitation to the LDF-deserters saying that coming together of secular and democratic forces was the need of the hour. Though Achuthanandan too was inviting the deserters, its difference from Pinarayi’s call was unmistakable just like the differences in the ideological positions of the two leaders.
While Pinarayi’s call to the deserters was to return to their original parties which were partners in the LDF, Achuthanandan’s words implied that they could come back to the coalition directly. He also made it clear that he was taking a stand which was different from that of Pinarayi as far as the issue was concerned.
“There could be people who agree and disagree with Pinarayi (on the issue of inviting deserters back). What I am speaking to you is of a different matter,” Achuthanandan told newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Earlier this week, Pinarayi had said that deserters could come back to the LDF but by merging back with their original parties.
Asked whether he was inviting LDF-deserters back to the coalition, he said, “It is absolutely necessary that all secular and democratic forces come together to confront the casteist and community-based forces. “I am not speaking about anybody leaving or rejoining any particular party,” he said.
The UDF hit back at the CPI(M) with PP Thankachan, convener of the ruling coalition, saying that Pinarayi ‘s hope of any party or individual in the UDF leaving it was sure to end in despair. “What he should do is to be cautious not to lose more people from his side,” he said.
Fatigued by frequent desertions from the party by top leaders and sympathizers and worried over the increase in the strength of the Congress-led ruling UDF, the Kerala CPI(M), leading the eight-party Opposition LDF, has started inviting parties that had left the front in the recent past back to it.
However, the Marxists have not so far been able to receive any positive responses from the deserters, mainly the Kerala Congress (J) which left the LDF in June, 2010 citing no specific reason for departure and the Socialist Janata (Democratic) – a split-away group of the Janata Dal (Secular) – which deserted the front during the 2009 Lok Sabha election.
Observers say that even State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, who earlier this week made the first call to the deserters to return, might not have expected something positive to happen abruptly but he had indeed succeeded in sowing the seeds of confusion and suspicion in the Congress-led ruling coalition.
On Friday, PJ Joseph, who had led his loyalists in the Kerala Congress (J) out of the LDF to merge with the Kerala Congress (M) of Finance Minister KM Mani and thus become part of the UDF, said in Delhi that there was no situation for his party to leave the UDF. Observers say that this was a reaction intended at removing any possible doubts in the ruling front.
MP Veerendra Kumar, chief of the Socialist Janata (Democratic) which he formed in 2009 after leaving the LDF in protest against the CPI(M)’s hegemonic attitude, said the other day that Pinarayi Vijayan should keep no hope of their return to the Left front. Both the Joseph faction in the KC(M) and the SJ(D) have one Minister each in the UDF Cabinet.
On Friday, Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan offered an indirect invitation to the LDF-deserters saying that coming together of secular and democratic forces was the need of the hour. Though Achuthanandan too was inviting the deserters, its difference from Pinarayi’s call was unmistakable just like the differences in the ideological positions of the two leaders.
While Pinarayi’s call to the deserters was to return to their original parties which were partners in the LDF, Achuthanandan’s words implied that they could come back to the coalition directly. He also made it clear that he was taking a stand which was different from that of Pinarayi as far as the issue was concerned.
“There could be people who agree and disagree with Pinarayi (on the issue of inviting deserters back). What I am speaking to you is of a different matter,” Achuthanandan told newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Earlier this week, Pinarayi had said that deserters could come back to the LDF but by merging back with their original parties.
Asked whether he was inviting LDF-deserters back to the coalition, he said, “It is absolutely necessary that all secular and democratic forces come together to confront the casteist and community-based forces. “I am not speaking about anybody leaving or rejoining any particular party,” he said.
The UDF hit back at the CPI(M) with PP Thankachan, convener of the ruling coalition, saying that Pinarayi ‘s hope of any party or individual in the UDF leaving it was sure to end in despair. “What he should do is to be cautious not to lose more people from his side,” he said.
