Kochi: A Shiv Sena MLA from Kerala is almost as impossible a mission as the biblical 'camel through the eye of a needle', but it seems no obstacle can puncture the aspirations of the party in the southern state.

Immediately after its alliance with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to form a government in Maharashtra this week, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is now hoping to expand scope of the tie-up to other parts of the country.

Even though the Kerala unit of the Congress is yet to come to terms with the alliance, Sena's Kerala unit, a non-entity in the state's mainstream politics, wants to join the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).

Shiv Sena's Kerala unit, formed in 1990, has never been in good terms with the RSS and its political offshoot BJP. The only time they came together was before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. With the Sena now severing all its ties with the BJP in Maharashtra, the Kerala unit is happy to leave the saffron fold in the southern state also.

“The situation is not suitable to cooperate with BJP. We can't trust BJP. It's in BJP's nature to split allies and poach their legislators. In Kerala also, BJP doesn't treat its allies well. They take all decisions on their own and inform the allies later. In contrary, both the Congress and the CPM work in unison with their allies,” M S Bhuvanachandran, one of the founding leaders of the Shiv Sena in Kerala, told Onmanorama.

Bhuvanachandran said the party is ready to work with the UDF in Kerala with his party keeping aside all ideological differences to form the government in Maharashtra along with Congress and NCP.

“The Sena has never taken any communal or extremist stances in Kerala. Our focus has always been on charity and palliative care works,” he said. Shiv Sena's Kerala unit, which had five ambulances when it was launched, now has 115 ambulances across the state.

Bhuvanachandran said the party's state executive scheduled to be held in Kochi on December 2 will discuss the proposal to join the UDF. “We are ready for talks with the front,” he said.

UDF, the main opposition front in Kerala, has 44 MLAs. Apart from Congress, its main allies are Indian Union Muslim League and Kerala Congress (M).

“We cooperated with the BJP in Kerala only during the last Lok Sabha polls. That time we were united by the cause of Sabarimala temple. Before that we used to support candidates based on their merits,” he said.

Bhuvanachandran said Shiv Sena has 37,000 members in Kerala.

He said Congress leaders had joined them in the celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad after the government formation in Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister on Thursday after weeks of high political drama.

Congress in Kerala is, however, shuddered at the thought of having Shiv Sena in its fold.

“There is no question of inducting Shiv Sena into the UDF. There has not been any talk about it. We cannot even think of such a situation,” Congress MLA V D Satheeshan told Onmanorama.

Shiv Sena's Kerala unit has always been in the news for wrong reasons. It was at the forefront of opposing the 'Kiss of Love' protest against moral policing. In 2017, they wielded canes against young couples in Kochi's Marine Drive in another act of moral policing.

During last year's Sabarimala protests led by Sangh Parivar outfits, Sena even claimed that it has a suicide squad ready to kill themselves if any woman in the menstruating age group enters the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala.