KL-FRONTS-MEETING

The ruling Left

Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition Congress-led United

Democratic Front Thursday held their leadership meetings ahead

of the Lok Sabha elections due early this year.

The LDF, which had added four more parties, including

the Kerala Congress (B) led by R Balakrishna Pillai, to its

fold last year, decided to organise a "Kerala March" covering

all the 140 assembly constituencies in the state.

The UDF meet witnessed demands for more seats by the

alliance partners, including Kerala Congress (M) and Kerala

Congress (Jacob).

Of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, 12 were won by the

UDF and the remaining 8 by the LDF in the 2014 polls.

LDF convenor Vijayaraghavan said the front would

organise two marches -- one each from the northern and

southern parts.

"CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan will lead

the march from Thiruvananthapuram and CPI state secretary

Kanam Rajendran will head the march from north. Both the

rallies will culminate at Thrissur on March 2," he told

reporters.

Vijayaraghavan said the aim of the marches was to bring

down the Narendra Modi government.

Communist veteran V S Achuthanandan was not present in

the LDF meet and sources close to the party said he was

unhappy with the inclusion of Pillai's party into the Front.

Achuthanandan was instrumental in pursuing the

corruption case against Pillai leading to his conviction.

In the UDF, KC(M), in addition to its Kottayam seat, has

now staked claim for the Idukki constituency too, which was

also sought by the KC (Jacob) group. Kottayam seat is now

vacant after the sitting member Jose K Mani was nominated to

the Rajya Sabha.

"This was the first meeting before the elections. It's

not time to decide about asking for more seats," Indian Union

Muslim League (IUML) leader and MP P K Kunhalikutty told media

after the meet.

The UDF meet has also decided not to consider the letter

of Poonjar MLA and former Kerala Congress leader P C George

expressing his desire to join the front.