RSP factions in Kerala merge, slam CPI(M), CPI

Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the RSP(B), the latter for long a constituent of the Congress-led UDF in Kerala, today merged, formalising the parent party's decision to quit the LDF on the eve of the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking at the "re-unification" conference held here, RSP leaders including party All-India General Secretary T J Chandrachudan and Lok Sabha member N K Premachandran, mounted a scathing attack on CPI(M) and CPI for their "failure to strengthen the Left unity in the country".
They called for forging a broad alliance of "Left, democratic and secular forces" to meet the challenges emerging from the rise in power of the BJP-led NDA at the Centre.

The merger came in the wake of the RSP deserting the LDF and getting Premachandran elected from Kollam Lok Sabha seat with the support of the UDF.
Launching a tirade on the CPI(M) and CPI, Chandrachudan said the leadership of the two parties failed to accommodate constituents like RSP and strengthen the Left unity.
The reunited party would hold a national plenum in December, the venue of which will be decided later, to work out the party's political line in the changed circumstances, they said.
RSP state Secretary A A Azeez and state Labour Minister Shibu Baby John, who led the RSP (B), and party's central secretariat member Sukumar Ghosh spoke at the convention, attended by over 3,000 delegates.

Sore over denial of Kollam Lok Sabha seat, RSP pulled out of LDF and its candidate N K Premachandran was elected defeating CPI(M) politbureau member M A Baby.