Trouble erupted in Kerala’s Opposition lDF on Friday just when front leaders CPI(M) and CPI were sitting complacent that the seat-sharing process for the lok Sabha polls had been completed smoothly, with minor coalition partner RSP effectively threatening to pull out of the front if it was not allocated a seat.
The RSP leadership boycotted a meeting of the lDF on Friday, the agenda of which was seat-sharing, after the CPI(M) rejected its claim for the Kollam seat during the bilateral discussions. “We just cannot accept the procedure of two parties (CPI(M) and CPI) taking decision unilaterally and forcing others to abide by it,” said RSP leader AA Aziz.
Party leader VP Ramakrishna Pillai even went to the extent of threatening to field RSP’s own candidate in the Kollam seat which the CPI(M) had taken over from the RSP in 1999. Only the CPI(M) and the CPI have been contesting lok Sabha elections for the lDF with the former taking 16 of the total 20 seats in the State and the latter the remaining four.
Amidst the dispute, banners and posters appeared across Kollam city and its suburbs announcing the candidature of RSP’s former State Minister NK Premachandran who had represented the seat earlier. “What we are now seeing is the refusal of the CPI(M), which is duty-bound to solve the front partners’ problems, is refusing to do that,” Ramakrishna Pillai told newsmen.
The RSP’s pressure tactics had some effect on the lDF as the front leadership decided to hold another round of meeting with that party. TJ Chandrachoodan, national general secretary of the RSP, had recently launched a scathing attack against the CPI(M) saying that lust for power had blinded it.
At the same time, other minor partners of the lDF also raised objections to the “habit” of the CPI(M) and CPI taking decisions regarding seat-sharing unilaterally. The Janata Dal (S) and the Kerala Congress group led by former Union minister PC Thomas said they also had their claims for seats in the lok Sabha election.
While the JD(S) wanted the Vadakara seat to be allocated to it, the Thomas faction of Kerala Congress wanted to get the Idukki seat. The Janata Dal (S) had stood with the left when there was a split in the party in 2009 and the Thomas faction Kerala Congress had stayed in the lDF when the major portion of that party had gone to ally with the Congress in 2010.
Despite all these troubles, sources in the CPI(M) and CPI claimed that they could complete the seat-sharing process by satisfying all stakeholders before Monday. “These are all minor issues. We are a family and such disputes can be solved within it. I am certain that the lDF’s final list of candidates will be ready by Monday or Tuesday,” said a CPI leader.