Nationalist Congress Party will remain in LDF

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ending all speculations that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs in the state might cross over to the UDF camp, NCP state president A C Shanmughadas reiterated that his party would continue in the LDF at any cost.‘’A section of the media has been spreading the news that NCP MLAs would cross over to the UDF fold. This is mere speculation. We would like to clarify that the NCP will continue to remain in the LDF,” Shanmughadas said here on Tuesday, in the presence of party MLAs A K Saseendran and Thomas Chandy. Speculations were rife that the NCP MLAs were planning to cross over to the ruling UDF camp which is surviving on a wafer-thin majority. It was being reported that A K Saseendran would be offered a Cabinet berth to change their loyalty, which would better the UDF position in the Assembly. But the NCP MLAs refuted all such speculations. “Even when the NCP was ousted from the LDF, we had stuck to our stand of Left politics,” Saseendran said.Shanmughadas said that the NCP stand in the state was even hailed by party president Sharad Pawar. ‘’The stand in Kerala has been hailed by the party president irrespective of the coalition arrangement with the UPA,” he said. He said that the NCP was in the Congress camp only in Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat the purpose of which was to keep the BJP at bay. He said that since the UDF government was surviving on a thin majority, the Front would encourage defection. But NCP MLAs will not be available for them, Shanmughadas said. “All I can advise the UDF is that they should be vigilant that no MLA from their camp switches their loyalty,” he added.