Balakrishna Pillai’s greed, political ambition scuttle LDF entry

Political ambition and greed of Kerala Congress (B) chairman R Balakrishna Pillai scuttled his chances for an entry into the LDF fold, sources said.  
Kerala Congress(B) leader R Balakrishna Pillai| Express Photo/File.
Kerala Congress(B) leader R Balakrishna Pillai| Express Photo/File.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Political ambition and greed of Kerala Congress (B) chairman R Balakrishna Pillai scuttled his chances for an entry into the LDF fold, sources said.  Pillai, who was trying to piggy ride Kerala Congress (Scaria) chairman Scaria Thomas to enter the LDF camp, changed tunes when the deal was almost finalised, said people privy to the negotiations.

As agreed earlier, the Kerala Congress (B) was to merge into Kerala Congress (S) and Pillai was to play a second fiddle in the new party. Piilai and Scaria had even called a press conference to announce their merger on Monday but it was later cancelled when Scaria backed off from the deal.

After meeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Kollam guest house on Monday, and when the media widely reported on the imminent merger, Pillai decided to change tunes.

Sources say if Pillai were to associate with Scaria, who has been with the LDF for past many years, there was a possibility of K B Ganesh Kumar becoming a minister in Pinarayi’s Cabinet at a later stage.
However, before the formal merger announcement the veteran Kerala Congress leader demanded the chairmanship for himself and added a condition that Scaria and his party be merged into KC(B), not the other way round as was earlier agreed.

Taken aback by the sudden vault face, Scaria back tracked from the deal. Scaria told Express Pillai went back on his word and that scuttled the deal. “We had a broad agreement that I will be the chairman (of the merged outfit) and Pillai would continue to hold the Cabinet post. However things turned topsy turvy when Pillai went back on this (agreement).”

When asked whether there are possibilities of a rethink, Scaria said: “We can look into all possibilities.”
But Pillai put the blame squarely on Scaria for the deal coming unstuck. “This was a move initiated by Scaria Thomas and we decided to merge in the presence of Chief Minister. But I don’t know why he went back from the move,” he told Express.

“I wish that all Kerala Congress parties that support LDF be together and are united to strengthen the front,” he added. He denied Ganesh’s Cabinet inclusion was part of the deal nor has his party put forward any such demand.

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