Thiruvananthapuram: Despite open dissensions in the KC(M) over the Government Chief Whip P.C. George issue, the Opposition does not seem to be too keen on pulling down the two-year-old Oommen Chandy Government. The KC (M) has nine MLAs.
Instead of forming a rickety government at this stage, the LDF leadership is in favour of coming to power with a clear people’s mandate. But it is not ruling out the possibility of an alternative government should a sizeable chunk of UDF legislators decide to cross over.
“We are not dying to come to power using any means. We know that we can easily get the support of a section of MLAs from the UDF camp. But we don’t want to resort to undemocratic means to bring down the government,’’ CPI state secretary Pannyan Raveendran told DC.
When asked about the possibility of P.J. Joseph group returning to the LDF, he said: “As of now, they are with the UDF. Let them come out first. We will cross the bridge when we come to it,’’ he said and added that the Left parties did not believe in political untouchability.
The differences in the KC(M) came to the fore with a section of leaders belonging to the erstwhile Joseph group raising the pitch for P.C. George’s resignation. But observers say the political ambitions of individual leaders like Francis George and Antony Raju were behind the controversy.
While P.J. Joseph is not keen on returning to the LDF, which he had quit in 2010 citing serious differences over the Achuthanandan government’s education policy and Left’s attitude towards minorities, a section of leaders of his party believes that continuing in the UDF would be detrimental to their political future. Francis George who represented Idukki parliamentary constituency while being in the LDF, is unlikely to get the seat back from the Congress.
“It is too early to discuss the seat issue. But in politics you cannot rule out anything and that’s why we stick to our demand for two parliamentary seats,’’ George told DC.
He, however, ruled out the possibility of returning to the LDF. “There is no such discussion taking place now. Our only demand is that P.C. George should be shown the door as he has become a liability for the party and government,’’ he added.
