By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala is yet to reach a consensus on a seat-sharing formula for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, with the third meeting to resolve the differences ending without any agreement Monday.
Trouble has been brewing in the LDF over three seats – Kollam, Ponani and Kozhikode – for more than a week now.
The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), which staked its claim to Kollam, was forced to beat a hasty retreat after the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) insisted on contesting it.
However, the CPI-M could not browbeat the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) into giving up the Kozhikode seat as it has been contesting since 1980. The Janata Dal(S) firmly refused as “not acceptable” the CPI-M’s proposal to allot it the newly-carved Wayanad seat instead at the Monday meeting. The CPI-M wants to contest the Kozhikode seat.
A final decision will now be taken at the LDF meeting here March 12.
In Ponani seat, which is one of the four contested by the Communist Party of India (CPI), a dispute has arisen after the CPI-M decided to field Hussain Randathany, the principal of a private college in Malappuram district.
Randathany told reporters Monday he had agreed to contest from Ponani after the CPI-M asked him to be its candidate.
“My campaign has already begun and I am the candidate of the LDF,” he said.
However, CPI’s assistant secretary K.E.Ismail told reporters in Trissur that Ponani is their seat and they will not accept Randathany as the candidate.
“We have four seats. How many times have we said that we are yet to finalise our candidates,” he said.