Congress struggles to retain Veerendrakumar

Kozhikode: While rumour mills are working overtime on the possible exit of the M. P. Veerendrakumar-led Janatha Dal (U) from the UDF camp, the UDF leadership is struggling to retain Mr Veerendrakumar in the front.

Even before the recent visit of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to the house of Mr Veerendrakumar in Kozhikode, emissaries conducted several rounds of talks with the JD (U) leader, sources said.

Mr Chandy himself offered Mr Veerendrakumar a series of solutions including giving him the vacant Rajya Sabha seat of the Congress and politically accommodating son MV Shreyams Kumar MLA, apart from offering a few more seats in the election to the legislature.

It is to be recalled that Janatha Dal (S) state president Mathew T Thomas has already said that if Mr Veerendrakumar is keen on re-unification of socialist groups in the state, he should quit the UDF. But what’s worrying the Veerendrakumar camp is the existing supremacy of Mathew T Thomas-led socialist group in the LDF.

The LDF hopes that the entry of JD (U) would give an additional leverage for the political front in Kozhikode, Kannur and Wayanad districts, apart from giving a facelift at the national-level.

However, Mr. Shreyams Kumar told DC over phone that the party is yet to deliberate over an immediate migration to the LDF. "We will finalise it only after the party committee meetings which are on," he said.