LUF collapses in five years; SUCI to go alone this time

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: THE Left United Front, cobbled up by fringe left parties led by Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections has collapsed without waiting for the next edition of the poll. The ambitious front which also included Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) and Marxist Communist Party of India (United) (MCPI-U) had contested in 20 seats last time.
The front contested in 60 seats in 2016 assembly polls too.Though it could not make any major gains in the two polls, the LUF could serve as a platform to unite former Marxists and revolutionaries. However, ideological confusions and weakening of MCPI-U after the death of its founder V B Cherian have hit the prospects of the LUF.
The SUCI has now announced candidates unilaterally for the 2019 poll. It will field candidates in nine constituencies. S Mini (Thiruvananthapuram), Twinkle Prabhakaran (Kollam), Binu Bay (Pathanamthitta), R Parthasarathy Varma (Alappuzha), K Bimalji (Mavelikkara), E V Prakash (Kottayam), Suja Antony (Chalakudy), A Sekhar (Kozhikode) and R Aparna (Kannur) have begun campaigning for SUCI.
“We decided to go alone as the idea of LUF did not work. MCPI-U split into two groups and RMP is now thinking about joining hands with UDF. We want to be the real Left alternative,” said M Shajar Khan, senior SUCI leader. He said, by fielding four women candidates among the nine chosen, SUCI has also taken a big step towards implementing gender justice which has been confined to rhetoric by other parties.