The confusion prevailing in the Kerala unit of the Janata Dal (United) over whether it should continue in the Congress-led ruling UDF or return to the CPI(M)-headed Opposition lDF from which it had walked out six years back in the context of the Janata Pariwar unification has pushed the ruling front into big trouble which may soon transform into a survival crisis if left unsolved.
As part of an alleged move to leave the UDF if the situation demands so, State JD(U) president MP Veerendrakumar had informed the front leadership that he was withdrawing from the task of inaugurating the UDF’s regional campaign which would begin at Kozhikode on May 19 in protest against the refusal to give captaincy of even one of the four regional campaigns to his party.
The JD(U) in Kerala is a splinter group of the Janata Dal (S) which had left the lDF in 2009 protesting against the CPI(M)’s unilateral takeover of its Kozhikode lok Sabha seat. After joining the UDF, the party renamed itself as the Socialist Janata (Democratic). It merged with the JD(U) recently.
Veerendrakumar had informed the UDF leadership about his decision not to inaugurate the campaign reportedly as part of a decision of the party leadership which had met in Kozhikode last Saturday that strict negotiations should be held with the front if it was to stay in the UDF. However, a report said on Wednesday that he might review the decision on the campaign.
The JD(U) has already been complaining that it has not been getting a fair treatment from the UDF leadership. A UDF fact-finding panel had found that Veerendrakumar, the front’s candidate, was defeated in the Palakkad lok Sabha constituency in the 2014 election because of the failure of the front partners, mainly the Congress, to work for him in the required manner.
Veerendrakumar’s party is said to be weighing the option of returning to the lDF and it could take a decision on this matter within two or three months. The lDF has been sending direct and indirect feelers to it in this regard. “I admit that there is some uncertainty over this in the party. Our decision will depend on the national leadership’s advice,” said a top JD(U) leader.
Realizing that the JD(U) move could plunge the Government, which is surviving on a slender majority, into a crisis and that the withering of constituents one after the other – however small they are – would have a huge impact in the civic bodies polls to be held in September and the Assembly election due in a year’s time, the UDF leadership has started firefighting exercise.
Though Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who is also the chairman of the UDF, had the other day chose to downplay the development by claiming that no constituent would leave the front, hectic efforts are already on to pacify the JU(U). State Congress president VM Sudheeran said on Wednesday that bilateral talks would be held with Veerendrakumar’s party on the issue.
In the 140-member State Assembly, the UDF tally had come down to 74 after the death of Speaker G Karthikeyan early March. This number dipped further to 73 after the recent walkout from it of the Kerala Congress (B), which has now decided to work for the lDF. The JD(U)’s Assembly strength of two members becomes extremely important to the UDF in this context.
Putting into practice the Maoist strategy of striking the enemy when he is at his weakest, the lDF has started making direct and indirect bids to attract the JD(U) into its fold. Senior CPI leader C Divakaran had the other day said that Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan had talked to the leaderships of the JD(U) and the RSP, another minor UDF partner.