K M Mani shrugs off Amit Shah visit

Kottayam: Kerala Congress (M) chairman K.M. Mani said on Monday that BJP president Amit Shah’s visit to Kerala will make no change in the state’s political scene. “Mr Shah is free to go anywhere and hold discussions with anyone but it is for the Kerala Congress to decide which front it will ally with,” Mr Mani told reporters in Pala on Monday. “We got no invitation from Mr Shah.” Mr Mani’s dismissal of Mr Shah’s visit as inconsequential reflects the thought process in the party which is decidedly against joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It also points to the fact that Mr Shah's discussions with church leaders, perceived as a move to invite political parties including the Kerala Congress (M) to widen the alliance, have had little impact.

There is schism in the party on the next course: none of the KC(M) MLAs has agreed to join the NDA while three MLAs including Roshy Augustine, N Jayaraj and Mr Mani himself are willing to join the LDF while P.J. Joseph, Mons Joseph and C.F. Thomas are against it and instead think the UDF is a better place. “The KC(M) is exploring whether it finds a place in the LDF,” a party leader told DC. “If that  option does not materialise and if there is no other way out, only then will Mr Mani present NDA as an option.” Though the CPM leadership is reportedly keen to include the KC(M) as a constituent of the LDF, the opposition from the CPI is hindering their chances.