KOCHI: A joint meeting by LDF constituents Janata Dal (Secular) and Loktantrik Janata Dal leaders, held in Kochi on Sunday, decided to go ahead with the merger of the parties. Water Resource Minister K Krishnankutty and MLA Mathew T Thomas, both from the JD (S), and M V Shreyams Kumar of LJD took part in the meeting.
Mathew T Thomas told The New Indian Express that the merger was just a formality and will happen “soon”.
“We welcome LJD into our fold and there are no pre-conditions,” he said. “We need to iron out some more finer aspects before announcing the merger,” he said, after the meeting.
JD(S) has three MLAs — Minister Krishnan Kutty, Vadakara MLA C K Nanu and Tiruvalla MLA Mathew T Thomas while the LJD’s Shreyams Kumar is a Rajya Sabha MP.
The latter, however, has no representation in the state assembly. Post merger, sources said senior JD(S) leader Nanu would be the party chairman, while LJD’s Shreyams Kumar will be the working chairman.
The merged entity, the leaders reckoned, would be better equipped to fight the local body elections and could bargain for a better deal from the LDF during the seat distribution ahead of the 2021 assembly polls.
Till 2009, the two parties were a single entity under M P Veerendra Kumar, who passed away in June.
After the split, one faction led by Veerendra Kumar joined the UDF while the other remained with the Left. In 2017, the Veerendra Kumar faction returned to the Left front. The merger has been on the cards for a while, as the LJD state committee had taken a decision in this regard a some months back.