By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is to hold a crucial meeting here Monday to decide whether Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, 87, should be given another chance to lead the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to finalise its first list of candidates for next month’s assembly polls.
“The decision is almost certain that he (Achuthanandan) will be asked to lead the LDF this time too, but it is not going to be an unanimous decision because all know that he chalked out his own strategy, much against the wishes of the state leadership during the past five years,” said a top CPI-M leader who did not wish to be identified.
The state leadership of the BJP is expected to finalise its first list of candidates, hoping it will finally manage to open its account.
The Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front too is slated to hold seat sharing talks Monday at Kochi.
The state party leaders are scheduled to meet leaders of the Kerala Congress (Mani), and new ally Socialist Janata Democratic (SJD), led by media baron M.P. Veerandra Kumar, who crossed over to the UDF from the LDF ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
“We expect the talks to be smooth and are hoping that these two parties will take a positive approach because seats are limited and hence all will have to make small sacrifices,” remarked a top Congress leader, requesting anonymity.