CMP splits, one faction to work for LDF

The Communist Marxist Party (CMP), a minor partner in the UDF in Kerala, today split with one of its factions announcing its decision to quit the Congress-led coalition and work for the LDF candidates in the April 10 Lok Sabha polls.
The simmering factional feud in the party reached a flash point today with K R Aravindakashan faction of the CMP, which met at Thrissur, deciding to break off the UDF.
Aravindakshan told reporters that the party had been getting a raw deal in the UDF and it would campaign for the LDF candidates in the Lok Sabha polls.
But the leader of the rival faction, C P John, said here the party would remain in the UDF and accused the rivals of betraying the cause for which the organisation had stood since the mid-1980s.

The commotions in the CMP spilled on to the street in Kannur where the Aravindakshan faction took over the control of the district party office, allegedly using force.
Leader of the pro-UDF faction C A Ajeer was allegedly roughed up by activists of the rival group.

Reacting to the development, KPCC President V M Sudheeran said the Congress and the UDF would discuss the issue.
The CMP was formed in the 1980s following the expulsion of M V Ragavan from the CPI(M).
Then a firebrand leader from the party stronghold Kannur, Raghavan was expelled from the CPI-M in the backdrop of rejection of his "alternative document" which advocated broadbasing the Left combine in the state by forging alliance with parties like the Indian Union Muslim League.

The simmering discontent in the party came to the fore after Raghavan fell ill a few months ago.
The split in the CMP, however, will not have any impact on the stability of the Oommen Chandy ministry as the party does not have any member in the state assembly.