Headlines
Estranged UDF ally to vote for Left in Kerala speaker poll
Thiruvananthapuram, March 11
The ruling Oommen
Chandy-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is all set to lose its ally
Kerala Congress as it has decided to vote for the Left nominee during
Thursday's election for the speaker's post.
The party led by
veteran R. Balakrishna Pillai, who often claims that he is one of the
founder members of the UDF along with K. Karunakaran in the early '80s,
has one legislator - Pillai's son K.B. Ganesh Kumar. Both have been cut
up with the UDF for some time now.
"Today is the happiest day in
my life. Technically we are not in the UDF now. For the past four years I
have remained aloof from the UDF and Ganesh Kumar was also suspended
from the UDF. So, we have decided to vote for the Left candidate
tomorrow (Thursday) during the speaker's election," Pillai said to
reporters at his Kottarakara residence on Wednesday.
Kerala's
speaker G. Karthikeyan passed away last week and subsequently the UDF
asked N. Sakthan, who was the deputy speaker, to resign and file
nomination papers for the speaker's post.
The Left has fielded
two-time CPI-M legislator Aiysha Potti as their candidate and the
election will take place in the assembly at 9.30 a.m. on Thursday.
"Pillai
and his party are now not attending the UDF meeting as they have been
suspended. His party voting against us tomorrow is the least surprising.
We knew this would happen. Next week when the UDF meets, his party will
be officially removed as an UDF ally," said senior Congress leader and
UDF convenor P.P. Thankachen to reporters here.
Incidentally,
when Ganesh Kumar votes for Potti on Thursday, the wheel would have
turned full circle, as in the 2006 assembly polls she registered her
first election victory when she defeated Pillai and in the 2011 assembly
polls she defeated Pillai's handpicked candidate.
Last December,
Ganesh Kumar went hammer and tongs against his former cabinet colleague
on the floor of the Kerala assembly, raising allegations of corruption,
and since then he has been booted out of the UDF meetings.
In
January this year, the UDF gave Ganesh Kumar one last chance, asking him
to mend his ways and behave himself, but he continued his negative
attitude towards the UDF.
Ganesh Kumar is also unhappy with the
UDF as he has not been taken back into the cabinet after he resigned a
couple of years back following a domestic issue with his then wife.
In the 139-member Kerala assembly, the UDF has 73 legislators and the Left's strength has gone up by one to 66.
"We do not require Pillai's party's vote to win tomorrow's election," said Thankachen.