The Congress high command has approved inclusion of Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) that quit the opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) on Saturday in the party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala amid resistance from a section of the party.
Disregarding the opposition mounted by Youth Congress and the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the youth and trade union wings of the party, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has given the go ahead to the process to admit the RSP into the UDF fold.
AICC general secretary, Mukul Wasnik conveyed the high command’s nod to the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V.M. Sudheeran over the telephone on Sunday. Wasnik has reportedly urged the party leadership to ensure the victory of RSP nominee N K Premachandran in the Quilon seat.
The Congress high command termed the exit of the RSP from LDF as a setback to the efforts to cobble together a third front at the national level. The Youth Congress held a demonstration in Quilon against the move to concede the seat to the RSP.
The INTUC’s opposition was conveyed by its state president Chandrashekharan in an email to AICC president Sonia Gandhi. Chandrashekharan, who is lobbying for the seat, urged Sonia Gandhi not to concede the seat to new partner. However, Peethambara Kurup, who won the seat for the Congress in the 2009 elections, said he was ready to abide the party decision on the candidature at Quilon. He said he was read to work for the victory of the UDF candidate in the constituency.
Meanwhile, efforts continued at various levels in the Left camp to placate the RSP. The CPM national leadership itself agreed to consider RSP’s demand for a Lok Sabha seat if the party reconsidered its decision to quit the LDF.
The central leadership intervened in the matter following criticism from several quarters. The Communist Party of India (CPI), the second largest constituent of the CPI, felt that the CPM should have taken the RSP into confidence before announcing its candidate in Quilon.
CPI all-India secretary Sudhakar Reddy urged his CPM counterpart Prakash Karat to directly intervene in the matter and bring the RSP back to the LDF fold. The state leaders of the CPI also held discussions with the RSP leaders in this regard. The Quilon district unit of the CPM also came out against the state leadership for their inept handling of the seat sharing. The district secretariat said that RSP would not have severed its three decades-old link with the LDF if the state leadership had convinced the RSP leadership of its need to contest the Quilon seat.
The RSP have ruled out a reconsideration of their decision. Aziz pointed out that the party had compromised its demand for a Lok Sabha seat twice in the past. He said the party did not feel the need for a compromise this time as the CPM had finalised the seat sharing without even discussing it in the LDF or with the party.
Aziz told reporters at Quilon on Sunday that his party’s exit from the LDF was the result of the arrogant approach of certain CPM leaders. He evaded the question whether the leader he meant was CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.