Cong-DIC(K) merger not discussed: Muraleedharan

Thiruvananthapuram, May 16 (UNI) Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) president K Muraleedharan today said there was no proposal before his party right now for a merger with the Congress.

Talking to newspersons here after a meeting of the party State Committee, Mr Muraleedharan said the lone MLA of his party would continue to be in the Opposition benches with the Congress-led United Democratic Front.

''However, there is no proposal before us for a merger. But we will continue to remain with the UDF,'' he added.

The DIC(K), formed by veteran leader K Karunakaran after spliting with the Congress last year, had an electoral understanding with the UDF and won one out of the 18 seats the party contested in the April-May Assembly polls.

However, the party issued a direction to its district units to end all the tie-ups with the Left Democratic Front in the local bodies.

In the previous local body elections, the DIC(K) had an electoral understanding with the Marxist-led Left Democratic Front and both of them were sharing power in many panchayats and other local bodies.

''If any of the DIC(K) members failed to end their tie-up with the LDF in local bodies, they will be brought under the purview of disqualification under the Panchayat Raj Act,'' he added.

He said today's meeting reviewed the reasons for the party's debacle in the Assembly elections. There were some difficulties in the elections when two parties that opposed each other came together. However, there was no point in blaming each others for the defeat, he said, adding that his party was confident of staging a comeback.

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