Kerala Assembly polls: UDF to finalise seat-sharing by tomorrow

Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly Chennithala said that the seat-sharing agreement between the parties in the United Democratic Front (UDF) will be finalised within a day

Ahead of the Kerala Assembly polls, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala on Friday said that the seat-sharing agreement between the parties in the United Democratic Front (UDF) will be finalised within a day.

"Seat sharing talks are progressing. We are on the last lap. We will finalise the list by today or tomorrow," he said.

"For candidates' list, the screening committee will meet and go to Delhi for the Central Election Committee (meet)," he said on seat sharing and candidates' announcement for the State Assembly polls.

UDF led by Congress comprises of Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala Congress (Joseph), Revolutionary Socialist Party, and a variety of other smaller parties. The front is a part of the United Progressive Alliance at the national level.

On Kerala gold smuggling accused-Swapna Suresh's purported allegations against Chief Minister of Kerala, Chenithala said, "Whatever the Opposition has said previously has proved to be right. The Chief Minister is the real culprit. His office has taken part in this murky deal with his knowledge"

"The Chief Minister made his Principal Secretary a scapegoat and tried to escape," he further said.

"Now revelations are before the High Court and also in the public domain which makes me wonder why central agencies are not probing into these angles," he added.

"They have been sleeping on this investigation for 2 months. I believe the understanding between CPI(M) and BJP may be the reason for this slow pace of the investigation," he said.

On the recent row concerning a series of resignations of Wayanad Congress leaders, Chennithala said, "Congress is intact in Wayanad. Two lower-level office bearers have left and one of them have come back. One is an INTUC state secretary and the other is a Mahila Congress secretary".

Ahead of the assembly polls in Kerala, four Congress Party leaders have resigned from the Congress party within the last four days alleging negligence of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leadership in the state.