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Even as six members of the Janata Parivar sealed a merger at the national level earlier this week, there is substantial uncertainty in Kerala.
Two constituent members of the Parivar — Janata Dal (United) and Janata Dal (Secular) — are on either side of the fence in Kerala. While the JD(U) is with the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), the JD(S) is with the opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF).
CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has called upon the Kerala unit of the JD(U) to join the LDF, so that it will be on the same side as the JD(S).
Among the politicians to whom the Janata merger poses a major dilemma is MP Veerendra Kumar.
Veerendra, a former MP, former Union Minister and CMD of media house Mathrubhumi, was originally a JD(S) leader and a minister in the LDF government.
Political dilemmaHowever, in 2009, just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, he quit the LDF because he was not given the Kozhikode seat. The UDF accommodated him, where he has been since then.
In the meanwhile, his faction of the JD(S) became the Socialist Janata (Democratic) and the rival faction stayed with the LDF.
Less than four months back, the SJ(D) merged with the JD(U) at an event in Thrissur, in the presence of Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar. Veerendra was made the State president of the JD(U).
Meanwhile, the JD(S) is led in the State by Mathew T Thomas. He was the LDF candidate in the Kottayam Lok Sabha constituency in last year’s election. Thomas, who at the time was part of the Veerendra Kumar-led JD(S), had resigned from the LDF government in 2009 on the orders of Veerendra. The two had, however, later parted ways.
Now that the JD(U) and JD(S) are becoming part of an umbrella entity, will Veerendra’s JD(U) leave the UDF and join the LDF? Or will Thomas’s JD(S) leave the LDF to join the UDF?
It’s an existential question for both the tiny parties in Kerala’s bipolar political space.
Like the Kerala Congresses, the Janata factions have a history of splits, mergers and regroupings, and these are set for an overhaul once again.
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