In Kerala, a meeting between leaders of the Congress and the Kerala Congress-M held in Aluva today failed to make any headway on the issue of merger of P J Joseph faction with the Kerala Congress- M. Both sides have refused to budge from their known stands with the Congress maintaining that the merger, scheduled to take place on the 27th of this month, should be discussed within the UDF. <br/><br/>The Kerala Congress – M on the other hand has stated that the merger is an internal matter of the party. <br/><br/>KPCC President Ramesh Chennithala, leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Mr Ommen Chandy and UDF Convenor Mr P P Thankachan represented Congress at the meeting, while the Kerala Congress M was represented by its leader Mr K M Mani. Briefing media persons after the meeting, UDF Convenor Mr P P Thankachan said talks will continue and added that a meeting of the UDF will be convened this month itself. <br/><br/>The P J Joseph faction was part of the ruling LDF till recently, with Mr Joseph himself holding the post of Public Works Minister, which he resigned. He decided to merge his party with the Kerala Cong-M, a constituent of the UDF, thus ending the two decade old association with the LDF. <br/><br/>However, merger of the P J Joseph faction with Kerala Cong-M has not gone down well with the Congress or its allies.