Kottayam (Kerala), Oct 9: The Kerala Congress-Secular (KC-S), supporting the state's opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), Friday announced it will merge with the Kerala Congress-Mani (KC-M).
The mergers decision was unanimous, five-time legislator P.C. George, who heads the KC-S, told reporters after a party meeting.
"The convention is that it is the river that merges with the sea. Hence, we decided to merge with the strongest of the three Kerala Congress parties in the UDF," he said.
George had been with the Kerala Congress (Joseph), which is an ally of the ruling Left Democratic Front, but broke away from it ahead of the 2006 assembly polls and formed the KC-S.
He contested from his traditional Poonjar constituency in Kottayam district with the support of the LDF but soon had differences with Pinarayi Vijayan, the state secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and parted company with the Left.
Early this year he was given an associate membership of the UDF but he was told that since he is the sole legislator of KC-S, his party cannot be a full-fledged ally.
This prompted him to merge his party with KC-M, which now has seven legislators and would now become the second biggest ally of the UDF, ahead of the Indian Union Muslim League.
The merger is expected to take place in a month's time.
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