Two Kerala parties in Left coalition to merge

As part of getting a larger share in the spoils of power, the Kerala Congress (Skariah Thomas) and Kerala Congress (B) have decided to merge. The official announcement will be made in the state capital on Tuesday.

While Skariah Thomas is a full-fledged ally of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the CPI-M , the KC (B) led by veteran R. Balakrishna Pillai is only an ally of the Left ever since it broke away from the then ruling Congress-led UDF in 2015.

Thomas and Pillai on Monday met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here and the green signal for their decision was given.

"The Chief Minister is our leader and it's quite natural we discuss all things with him," Thomas told the media.

While Thomas' party has no legislator, Pillai's party has one, which is his son K.B. Ganesh Kumar.

Presently, the LDF has six constituents and all of them have been given cabinet berths.

The seven friendly allies include the National Secular Conference, Kerala Congress-B, Communist Marxist Party-A and Revolutionary Socialist Party-Leninist (all have a legislator each) while the Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi-Gowri, Indian National League and Kerala Congress-Democratic are currently unrepresented in the Assembly.

--IANS

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