The six legislators of the Kerala Congress-Mani, presently sitting as a separate block in the assembly, on Sunday decided to keep away from the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls to be held here on Friday.
The KC-M, led by veteran legislator K.M.Mani, quit the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in 2015 after a more than three decade long association, and has since then have been keeping away from all the state's three political fronts, even as all of them are strongly wooing him.
Addressing the media soon after the steering committee of the party which was called to finalise the strategy to be adopted in the March 23 Rajya Sabha polls, Mani said a decision was taken to keep away from the polls.
"Why we decided to keep away from the polls is because we have not come to a conclusion on which front to align with. Hence we decided not to cast our votes in the Rajya Sabha poll," he said.
However, the party's decision will not have affect the poll outcome as 80-year-old media baron M.P. Veerendra Kumar of the erstwhile Janata Dal-U is set to win since the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), which has 91 members in the 140-member assembly, is supporting his candidature.
Mani also told the media that the party will take a ‘surprise decision’ on a coalition, according to a TNIE report.
“A decision on entering coalition politics will come up at any time, perhaps even before the Chengannur bypoll,” he said
The veteran politician also said that no matters regarding the Chengannur bypoll have been discussed yet as the election has not yet been declared, the report stated.
“Once it does, we will convene a special meeting and take a decision,” he said.
Mani also denied reports of discussions with BJP saying that the BJP leader Krishnadas merely paid a friendly visit.
(With inputs from IANS)