3 min readThiruvananthapuramNov 30, 2013 12:45 AM IST
First published on: Nov 30, 2013 at 12:45 AM IST
Senior UDF leader and state Finance Minister K M Mani addressed a seminar at the CPM plenum,which took a resolution to augment the LDF political base exploiting the discontent among the UDF allies. Mani is the chairman of regional Christian party Kerala Congress,the third-leading element in the UDF,and has a history of switching loyalty in the bi-polar politics.
The three-day plenum marked a shift in the CPM approach towards the Congress-led UDF government.
The resolution said there was no untouchability towards Kerala Congress M and Socialist Janata Democratic,a splinter group of the state faction of the Janata Dal Secular.
The CPM has trained its guns on the Congress government after party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan was exonerated by the CBI court in the SNC Lavalin case.
The acquittal of Vijayan in the corruption case,after he moved a discharge petition,has cleared the way for his re-entry into politics in the state.
Although the Congress government,running on thin majority,has been rocked by various scandals,the CPM remained cool until Vijayan cleared the Lavalin hurdle.
On Thursday,party politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said,The days of the Congress government are counted. The state politics is at a critical juncture. The situation is suitable for strengthening the LDF.
Balakrishnan said the LDF was willing to take Mani to its fold without the help of any mediator. The LDF has no qualms over hobnobbing with Mani, he said.
At the same time,the CPM has not welcomed the Congress leading ally Indian Union Muslim League to the LDF fold.
Although the plenum resolution has invited the SJD also to the LDF,only the bid to lure Kerala Congress M seemed to be serious.
Mani,who later addressed a seminar session at the plenum,said he would stay back in the UDF. But the Kerala Congress was ready to join hands with the CPM for fighting for the rights of the state,he said.
There have been several incidents in which Mani was found sulking in the UDF. Of late,Mani is against the Union government decision to implement Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats as the Christians in the hills form his vote bank. He can now easily find a common plank with the CPM which is also against the Western Ghats report.
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