"Seat sharing was finalised without any problem in the UDF. Then we struck a deal with K. Karunakaran's party and now the Congress has finalised its seats without any hitch. But the LDF (Left Democratic Front) is having serious problems and their seat sharing is still incomplete," Chennithala told reporters here.

Chennithala said the manifesto of the opposition front was similar to what the UDF had released in the May 2001 assembly polls.

"They now speak of developing Kerala. The people of Kerala will teach them a lesson because in the past five years they have been creating roadblocks in the state and prevented several initiatives from taking off. They always think a quarter century backwards," said Chennithala.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led LDF is still to finalise its seats for the three-phased elections that begin April 22. Three LDF allies have expressed their resentment at the CPI-M poaching on their seats.

"We hope the CPI-M and the LDF will understand the ground reality prevailing in certain districts when the final decision on seat sharing is taken April 2," said a peeved P.J. Joseph of the Kerala Congress-J, an ally of the LDF.