The Hindu : Front Page : Ruling front shows NCP the door

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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2006
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Ruling front shows NCP the door

Special Correspondent

LDF convener Vaikom Viswan says decision was unanimous

ON THE WAY OUT: The NCP leaders Cyriac John, A.C. Shanmughadas and A.K. Saseendran coming out of the AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday when the LDF was discussing the question of the party's continuance in the front: — Photo: C. Rathe esh Kumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), currently being led in Kerala by the former Chief Minister K. Karunakaran, suffered a major humiliation on Monday when the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) leadership formally asked the party to leave the alliance.

NCP leaders who reached the AKG Centre here on Monday morning to attend the LDF State committee meeting could not attend it as leaders of the Communist Party of India (CPI) took strong objection to their presence. The Revolutionary Socialist Party also took the same stand. Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan also informed the meeting that there had been no rethink on his party's decision to keep former Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) leaders and workers out of the LDF. With that it became clear that the NCP has no place in the LDF. And the NCP representatives were asked to leave the meeting.

LDF convener Vaikom Viswan told reporters during the noon-break of the meeting that the decision to ask the NCP to leave the LDF was `unanimous.' He said the decision had become inevitable in the changed political context. The LDF had decided earlier not to accommodate the DIC(K) in the LDF. Since the DIC(K) had the upper hand in the NCP in Kerala, there could be no change in the LDF's stand. However, this had nothing to do with the national-level alliance between the Left and the NCP, he said.

Addressing reporters while leaving the meeting, NCP leaders Cyriac John, A. C. Shanmughadas and A. K. Saseendran termed the LDF decision `unfortunate and without any political rationale.' Those who were part of the NCP had been part of the LDF from its inception and the party had all along remained steadfast in its commitment to the alliance, they said.

Later, NCP State president K. Muraleedharan told reporters that the LDF leadership's decision was not `altogether unexpected' and that the people of Kerala knew how sincerely the NCP had worked for the LDF. The NCP, he said, had worked for the LDF like a movement wedded to certain principles. The only reason being cited for keeping the NCP out of the LDF was the palmolein case against Mr. Karunakaran. The matter was now before the Supreme Court and the affidavits filed by two successive Governments were not in agreement on whether the deal was beneficial or harmful to the State, he pointed out.

Mr. Karunakaran was cryptic in his response to the LDF decision and said the LDF would see its real effect very soon. Mr. Karunakaran was speaking to reporters along with Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan, who had come calling on him. Mr. Natesan termed the LDF decision most `unfortunate' and felt that the LDF should have tried to keep Mr. Karunakaran on its side if it wished to rule the State for a long term as in West Bengal.

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