Janata Dal (United) to stand apart in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The JD(U) in Kerala  has decided to sever its  ties with the national party following the break-up of the grand alliance in Bihar.  The state unit may form a separate party by reviving the  previous Socialist Janata Democratic.   JD(U) chairman M.P. Veerendra Kumar has   demanded that the two JD(U) MPs should  disown  Mr Nitish Kumar and asked  party president Sharad Yadav to oust  Mr  Nitish Kumar from the party. “The future course of action will be decided  by the state council.  We cannot join with fascist and communal organisations just for a Rajya Sabha seat,”   Mr Veerendra Kumar said in New Delhi.  He clarified that no discussions had been held with the LDF so far.

Mr Veerendra Kumar had formed the SJD  in 2009  along with a group of leaders like M. V. Shreyams Kumar, K. P. Mohanan, Varughese George and  Shaikh P. Harris who came out of the JD(S) following the dispute with the LDF on  the Kozhikode Lok Sabha seat.   Mr Veerendra Kumar, who was trounced in the Palakkad  seat by CPM’s M. B. Rajesh in 2014, had alleged that the local UDF leaders had worked for  his defeat.  The KPCC leadership is keeping mum over the sub-committee report on the debacle.

BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan welcomed the Kerala JD(U) to the NDA fold and said Mr Nitish Kumar’s decision to join hands with the BJP showed the political polarisation in the country. “The  JD(U) was at the receiving end when it was in the LDF and the UDF.  This is the right time for the party to join the NDA in Kerala,”  he said. CPM secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan asked the JD(U) to  take the right political  stand.   “The party should sever  its ties with the UDF and  Nitish Kumar,” he said in Kozhikode.