By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : For the fourth successive day Thursday the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) failed to reach a consensus on a seat-sharing formula for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
According to party insiders, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is keen on re-allocating seats on the basis of a formula. This time the CPI-M wants to field an Independent on the Ponnani seat, a suggestion vehemently opposed by the Communist party of India (CPI).
“There is no question of surrendering Ponnani seat and we will decide who will contest in the four seats that we have been contesting for so long. How can someone else decide for our seats?” said an angry CPI state secretary Veliyam Bhargahavan after a meeting with the allies here Thursday.
In the 2004 elections, the CPI-M contested 14 seats, the CPI four and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and the Kerala Congress (Joseph) contested one seat each.
The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), the Congress-S and the Nationalist Congress Party are also part of the ruling front.
The CPI-M also wants to take over the Kozhikode seat, which has been with the JD-S since 1980. CPI-M wants this seat in lieu of Wayanad seat.
JD-S legislator K.P. Mohanan said that one-on-one talks will be held March 9 and a final decision will be taken at the LDF meeting March 12.