ON March 8, 2014, the CPI(M)’s Kerala state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan urged the state committee of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) to stand with the Left and democratic forces. He asked the RSP to suggest ways to strengthen the Left Democratic Front. The CPI(M) leader, while speaking at Thiruvananthapuram, said the issues regarding seat sharing were always settled within the Left Democratic Front in the past. Stressing that any hasty and emotional step would only weaken the Left unity, Pinarayi expressed the hope that the RSP, which has always been making strong efforts to strengthen the Left unity, would not take any such stand as could weaken the attempts to isolate both the Congress and the BJP. All the Left parties must have to discharge the duty of strengthening the Left unity, Pinarayi added. He also urged the leaders and workers of the RSP to strengthen this unity. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan also urged the RSP leaders in Kerala not to resort to any hasty step. He hoped that the issues regarding seat sharing would be settled within the front. PRE-PLANNED MOVE: VISHWAN  ON March 10, 2014, Vaikom Vishwan, convenor of the Left Democratic Front, said that the exit of the Revolutionary Socialist Party from the LDF and its decision to join the Congress led United Democratic Front had been hatched through a tacit understanding between the Congress and some RSP leaders, in a quite pre-planned manner. It is notable that, months back, some UDF leaders had already made the announcement that two LDF members were to cross over to their front. While addressing a press conference at Thiruvananthapuram on the day, Vaikom Vishwan said the RSP has always been vibrantly active in the struggles waged by the LDF against the UDF government’s policies. The people of Kerala still remember the speeches made by their leaders and their stand against the UDF policies. RSP leader N K Premachandran was elected from the Kollam Lok Sabha constituency twice and once he was elected to the Rajya Sabha too. He was also a minister in the LDF government during 2006-2011. However, even though all the LDF constituents worked hard to make him victorious, he lost in the last assembly elections. RSP workers well know the reasons of his defeat. Now the people of Kerala, and especially those of Kollam, can see how unduly he is criticising the parties that worked to strengthen the Left and democratic forces, Vaiko Viswan said. A statement issued by LDF said that, Left force in the country is eagerly trying to mobiles the secular and democratic forces to fight against the neo liberal policies of congress and communal designs of BJP. RSP is also engaged in this endeavor. But the opportunistic stand taken by certain leaders in Kerala will be realized by the RSP workers who always stood with Left Democratic forces. CONGRESS MLA FACES RAPE CHARGE IN a serious development which is likely to cause a tremor in the politics of Kerala while Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, the police registered on March 10, 2014 a criminal case under the provisions of articles 354 A and 506 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), against A P Abdulla Kutti a legislator from Kannur assembly constituency. The case was filed on the basis of a complaint lodged by Mrs Sarita S Nair, one of the prime accused in the multi-crore solar panel scam. It is to be noted that in her complaint failed in the Cantonment Women’s Police Station in Thiruvananthapuram, Sarita S Nair had accused that Abdulla Kutti had used vulgar language on telephone and had invited her with a sexual intention to the Mascot Hotel in the state capital. According to the complaint, Abdulla Kutti raped Sarita in this five star hotel which is owned by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC). While she was in the police custody in connection with the solar panel scam, the Congress MLA had also sent SMS’s to her cell phone, requesting her not to mention his name. He had also threatened her on phone, she said in the complaint. However, the police did not disclose the details of the complaint. Soon after he came to know about the case lodged against him, Abdulla Kutti rushed to the Cliff House, official residence of the Kerala chief minister, Oommen Chandy. It was learnt that he had had brief discussions with the chief minister, KPCC president V M Sudheeran and UDF convener P P Thankanchan before he took shelter in some unknown place. The case was registered following a discussion among the senior police officers. In the complaint, Sarita Nair has demanded an inquiry by a woman officer. AICC MEMBER QUITS CONGRESS GIVING a big blow to the United Democratic Front and its leader, i.e. the Congress party whose election preparations are still inconclusive, Peelipose Thomas, a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and former District Congress Committee (DCC) president in Pathanamthitta, has quit the party. Announcing his resignation at a press conference in Pathanamthitta on March 8, 2014, he informed that the resignation letter had been sent to the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V M Sudheeran. Peelipose Thomas also announced on the occasion that he was willing to cooperate with the Left Democratic Front (LDF). “LDF leaders have approached me to contest in Pathanamthitta constituency and I assured my willingness to contest. The conscience of Congress workers in the districts is with me,” he said. Peelipose Thomas had been keeping a distance from the Congress leadership in the state for the last few months, due to its suspicious haste in getting an airport in Aranmuala materialised. He strongly objected the Congress party’s move to convert the farmland in Aranmula to industrial uses. In his press conference, Thomas said that the money which was being used for the proposed Aranmula airport was the money got through the 2G spectrum scam. He also described the Congress stand on the Kasturirangan report as extremely anti-farmer. Thomas also said an anti-constitutional mode of behaviour prevails in the Congress leadership which had been constantly trying to oust him from the party in which he had been working for long five decades. ­ WILL WORK AGAINST UDF: GAURI AMMA THE Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi (JSS), a constituent of the UDF, has decided to work against the UDF now. According to the JSS founder and former CPI(M) leader Gauri Amma, the party would cooperate with the LDF in the coming Lok Sabha elections. The JSS has also decided to organise a mass programme to expose the failure of law and order as well as the rampant corruption under the UDF rule in Kerala and Congress led UPA rule at the centre. It will also organise conventions of all the 20 constituencies in the state. A consultation with the LDF leadership is also scheduled, Gauri Amma said. One notes that Gauri Amma had formed the JSS when she was expelled from the CPI(M), for her anti-party activities, in 1994.