Thiruvananthapuram: Former finance minister and Kerala Congress (M) supremo K.M. Mani, in his first reaction after his party was allotted a separate block in the Kerala assembly, said he was away from the congestion of the UDF in the assembly.
"Now we can sit freely without bumping into anyone," he said.
Addressing a KC(M) party meet in the state capital, Mani said, “CPM and BJP should shun violent politics. Both the parties wield machete in their hands. It is not the habit of Kerala Congress to blabber against former allies after snapping ties,” Mani said.
Meanwhile, former chief minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy said that one should wait and see the opposition's approach towards Mani in the assembly. Chandy also said that there was nothing unusual about allotting a separate block for Mani's party in the house.
KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran said that there won't be any more discussions with Mani and added that sitting as a separate block was KC(M)'s political decision.
In a setback to Congress-led opposition UDF, KC(M), which recently severed its over 30-year-old ties with the front, had Tuesday submitted a letter to assembly speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, requesting him to accept the party as a separate block in the state Assembly.
The party, which contested as a UDF partner in the May 16 assembly polls, has six MLAs in the 140-member assembly.
The decision of Kerala Congress(M) to sit as a separate block is a blow for the UDF. Its number in the assembly will now come down to 41.
In its camp at Charalkkunnu in August, the KC(M), led by former Mani, had announced its decision to severe its ties with UDF, of which it was a part for more than three decades and that it's party MLAs would sit as a separate block in the assembly.
The party had also said it would be 'equidistant' from the UDF, ruling CPM-led LDF and BJP-led NDA.
(With agency inputs)