Kerala Congress (Nationalist), a partner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Kerala, will merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this weekend.
According to Noble Mathew, party chairman, there are more than half-a-dozen varieties of Kerala Congress and people have lost confidence in the outfits masquerading as Kerala Congresses. The youth in Kerala had lost faith in regional parties and prefer national parties instead, as was evident from the recent election results, he said.
Mr. Mathew said he and 600 of his friends would join the BJP on Saturday at a special function in Kottayam.
BJP secretary H. Raja, party State president Kummanam Rajasekharan, leaders B. Muraleedharan, T.K. Krishnadas, Alphonse Kannanthanam, Ettumanur Radhakrishnan, and others would participate, he said.
Mr. Mathew said he would continue to strive for realising the Sabari Railway, a new airport at Erumeli, and hiking the price of natural rubber to Rs.200 a kg.
Mr. Mathew, an activist of the KC(M), formed the party on March 11, 2014, in the run-up to the last general elections.
He contested the 2014 elections from Kottayam as National Democratic Alliance candidate. His decision to merge with the BJP comes in the wake of the Kerala Congress led by P.C. Thomas joining the NDA as a coalition partner.
Party chairman says the youth in Kerala have lost faith in regional parties and prefer national parties
