UDF's Aishwarya Kerala Yathra to make room for its seat sharing talks

AICC delegation to hold discussions with UDF coalition partners on Monday

The first round of seat-sharing discussions between Congress and other UDF constituents has already taken place.

The leaders hope to resolve remaining issues during the course of the Aishwarya Kerala Yatra that Congress-leader Ramesh Chennithala will be undertaking soon.

With the top leaders of the UDF including Congress being part of the yathra, it was deemed that it would be convenient for the leadership to hold bilateral discussions on seat sharing during the course of the journey.

The leaders also believe that this method would help in avoiding controversies associated with seats and media discussions on the seat-sharing process.

With a number of political parties quitting the UDF, the Congress is likely to contest a majority of the seats from the general pool.

The allies asked the Congress to ensure victory in at least half of the 90 seats that the party is expected to contest.

They are not against Congress contesting more seats. But if the Congress continues with its traditional method of candidate selection then the allies would be forced to stake their claim, on some seats.

The Congress hit back saying that the allies which are demanding seats should also convince them about the possibilities of victory.

However, the allies claim for swapping more seats will not be rejected. But they will have to prove that their prospective candidate for those seats has a better chance of victory than the Congress probable.

Though Muslim League saying that it deserved 10 more seats, the party is actually aiming at getting 4-5 more seats this time. The League does not want to create an impression that it wants to raise excessive demand.

The Congress has also apprised the League of the dangers hidden in making tall claims for seats. Congress has categorically told P J Thomas that it would not be allotted 15 seats as was done when the Kerala Congress was united.

The Congress is thinking of allotting 7-9 seats.

Though the RSP has demanded seats with better victory prospects, the Congress does not see many possibilities of swapping seats with that party.

CMP has demanded three seats but it is unlikely to get that many seats. The CMP demand for a seat with high victory prospects for its leader CP John is being considered by the Congress and Muslim League.

The propaganda regarding Kerala Congress (Jacob) leaving UDF is not being taken seriously by the Congress leadership.

Forward Bloc, National Janata Dal are likely to be allotted one seat each.

The Congress leadership has not been able to arrive at a decision on P C George in view of the strident opposition of the party local leadership against the Poonjar strongman.

The UDF is still hopeful that a faction of NCP will cross over to the opposition front. Mani C Kapan, MLA, has already hinted at the possibility of joining UDF.

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.