Karunakaran's party splits

Thiruvananthapuram: The ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala has been presented with a new irritant, following the decision of the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) to align with the Nationalist Congress Party.

The merger, which is expected to be consummated when NCP president and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar arrives in Kerala today, will effectively bring DIC-K back into the LDF fold, a development that some LDF constituents will find difficult to digest.

Meanwhile, the decision to merge DIC-K with the NCP has led to a split in the Karunakaran party, with followers of T.M. Jacob, who had merged his Kerala Congress (Jacob) party with DIC-K, deciding to stay away from the merger decision and be on their own for the moment.

"We tried our best to go along with Karunakaran, but most of the decisions taken by the party were not even communicated to the leaders in the party. The decision to merge with NCP was also not made known to us," T.M. Jacob said.

Next move

Jacob's remarks were rejected by veteran politician K. Karunakaran and his son K. Muraleedharan who is the party president. "Jacob's decision is a reckless one. His move to leave the party has no relevance in Kerala politics. People are not keen to know what the next move of T.M. Jacob is," Karunakaran said.

Muraleedharan said that the party could not sacrifice common decisions for the sake of some individuals, adding that the decision of Jacob to leave the party in protest against the merger with NCP would have little impact.

Jacob and his followers are now expected to return to the UDF camp, from where they had resigned when they were sidelined when Oommen Chandy took over the reins as chief minister.

UDF convenor P.P. Thankachan has hinted that Jacob and his supporters would be taken into the UDF camp if they decided to return.

Karunakaran party's merger with NCP is expected to cause some problems for the LDF because the CPI has opposed taking Karunakaran and his followers into the LDF camp.

LDF decision

CPI state secretary Veliyam Bhargavan said DIC-K's move to enter the Left camp through a merger with NCP was against political morality.

Political observers here point out that NCP itself may opt out of the LDF camp, lending yet another twist to the emerging political power play in Kerala.

CM calls meeting

Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan yesterday decided to convene a meeting of all concerned parties in the controversial private self-financing colleges issue. The talks are to be held here this evening.

Thousands of students seeking admissions to professional courses in Kerala, particularly in engineering and medical streams, and their parents have been in distress owing to the long delay in finalising admissions and fee structures. Representatives of college managements and church leaders are expected to attend the meeting.