THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the wafer-thin majority of the UDF Government being narrowed down further to just one, serious thinking has dawned on all the top leaders in the front on how to plug the loose ends and hold ground. The strength of the UDF in the 140-member Assembly has come down to 71 with the demise of Jacob. As for the Kerala Congress (Jacob), a crucial meet is slated for Tuesday after the funeral of T M Jacob. A formal demand will be made during the meeting to induct Anoop Jacob, the departed leader’s son and state president of Youth Front, as a minister.The Kerala Congress (Jacob) has also resolved to launch Anoop as the party’s choice and UDF candidate in the Assembly bypoll from Piravom, which has to be held in six months.The assessment is that the suave Anoop would be able to cash in on the sympathy wave and retain the seat held by his father for long, though the fact remains that he had scraped through in the 2011 polls with a majority of just 157 votes .The prospect of the UDF Government positioned on a rickety wicket are sending jitters to many, especially with another senior legislator from its fold confined to a hospital bed for long time now.“To move ahead with the support of the likes of Government Chief Whip P C George, who are perennial trouble-makers, is unthinkable,” a senior KPCC leader told Express.The only breather for the UDF Government is that the Opposition LDF is not keen to topple the dispensation at the moment, despite rumours based on the recent statements of Opposition Deputy Leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan that a few UDF MLAs are waiting to cross over.The LDF may not pursue a more vigorous political line in the Piravom Assembly bypoll either, since the choice is more or less stamped for M J Jacob, who lost the 2011 polls to T M Jacob, after routing the latter in the 2006 polls.
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