Kochi, Sep 22 - The United Democratic Front (UDF) Tuesday got its ninth ally in Kerala after the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) faction led by prominent socialist M.P. Veerendrakumar joining it.

With the three legislators of the Veerendrakumar faction, the strength of the Congress-led UDF in the 140-member house goes up to 45. A meeting of the UDF held here last month gave the formal clearance to the JD-S faction joining the front.

'We are certainly delighted to have a party like JD-S into our fold. Their main grouse in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) was that there was no freedom for allies,' UDF convenor P.P. Thankachan told reporters here after a meeting of the UDF here.

Referring to the Communist Party of India-Marxist that heads the LDF, he said: 'The writ of CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan prevails in the LDF and none has any freedom there.