Thiruvananthapuram: The JDU ended its seven-year sojourn in the UDF camp, saying this is the most opportune to join the LDF and participate in the major campaign against rightwing forces that “even seek to determine the course of our private lives”.
“We are Socialists, ideologically and sentimentally aligned to the Left,” said JDU state president M.P. Veerendrakumar at a press conference here on Friday. He said the decision to leave the UDF was taken unanimously at the state council, the state committee and the state secretariat.
The party will report the decision to the district units before organising two rallies in Kozhikode and Thiruva-nanthapuram, respectively. The formal entry into the LDF would take place later.
Mr Veerendrakumar, who had resigned his membership of the Rajya Sabha a few days ago, said his party had not put any preconditions to the LDF entry.
However, it is learnt, the LDF might not be averse to giving the RS vacancy to JDU because it deprived the UDF of a RS berth. The LDF, which has the numbers, will ensure the victory of its nominee.
He said he had interacted with CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran and both had welcomed JDU into the LDF.
For now, the LDF will accommodate both JD (Secular), already its ally, and JDU. JDS leader and Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas has said the JDU can opt to merge in JDS.
Mr Veerendrakumar thanked the UDF, “Which had benefited by our association though we had lost much in the bargain”. UDF stands to lose the backing of Veerendrakuamr’s newspaper, Mathrubhumi and its news channel.
Talks for the JDU return to the LDF had started last year. Veerendrakumar had himself admitted to meeting erstwhile colleagues K. Krishnankutty and C.K. Nanu. The icebreaker was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s visit to the ailing Veerendra Kumar in February.
In his autumn, Veerendrakumar’s priority is to ensure safe passage for heir apparent Shreyamskumar, who has to preserve the “Socialist legacy”, the media assets and the large swathes of property. Perhaps the best guarantee is to sup with the enemy. It was not long ago that Adivasi Kshema Samity, the tribal arm of CPM, had started a land-grab agitation in a coffee plantation in the possession of Veerendra Kumar and family for generations. Now the truce prevails.
