Kottayam: With just three members in the panchayat committee, UDF has secured power in the Kidangoor gram panchayat with the support of the BJP. UDF member Thomas Maliyekkal is the new president of the gram panchayat. LDF had held power so far with seven out of the total fifteen members in the panchayat committee being their supporters. After the election, the strength of the respective parties in the committee stood at LDF (CPM-3, Kerala Congress (M)-4), BJP-5, and UDF-3.  

The development happened as the election was necessitated due to the ‘two- and-a-half-year president role for each’ equation between CPM and Kerala Congress (M) in the LDF front. Earlier, previous president-Bobby Mathew who is a representative of Kerala Congress (M), and vice-president Hemaraj had submitted their resignations as decided.

According to LDF Kottayam district convenor Prof. Lopez Mathew, the manner in which UDF has secured power in the Kidangoor panchayat by establishing ties with the BJP is nothing but dirty politics. "It is a case of political betrayal,” he said.

“This can be considered as a rehearsal for what is going to happen in the Puthuppally bypoll, and is also a perfect repetition of what happened in Pala and Kaduthuruthy during the assembly election,” he alleged.

While demanding an explanation from the Congress leadership, the district convenor also accused the Congress of double standards while dealing with BJP.