JD-U's Kerala unit to decide on political stance shortly

The final decision on the political stance of the Janata Dal-United's Kerala unit will be made at its crucial party meeting to be held here on January 11 and 12, top party leaders said.

The Kerala unit of JD-U is led by media baron M.P. Veerendra Kumar, who had recently resigned from the Rajya Sabha.

The party is presently in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) but the 80-year-old Kumar is keen that he wants to return to the Left Democratic Front (LDF), with whom he broke all ties ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, after he was denied renomination from the seat he held.

He then joined the UDF and when it came to power in 2011, his party nominee was a State Minister in the then Oommen Chandy government.

But things turned sour after Kumar was routed at the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when he lost by a massive margin to sitting CPI-M Lok Sabha member M.B. Rajesh.

Since then, Kumar was unhappy with the UDF, but he faced stiff resistance from his party to returning to the Left fold.

To keep Kumar happy, the UDF decided to give him a Rajya Sabha seat and they did it early this year. He however resigned early this month in wake of JD-U chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar joining the BJP-led NDA recently.

With the CPI-M wooing Kumar back to the Left fold, he was keen to return but faced resistance from within a section of his party and also from the JD-S leadership, presently an ally of the Left, who was not keen to be tagged with Kumar again.

According to JD-U sources, a final decision is expected to be taken at its leadership meeting to be held here on January 11 and 12 and in all likelihood, Kumar will return to the Left and will float a new party.

--IANS

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