Unfazed by the desertion of mid-rung leaders, Democratic Indira Congress (K) supremo K Karunakaran said on Friday that his party would go ahead with merger talks with the Nationalist Congress Party on which a final decision would be taken on September 20.

Terming those who had left his party recently as 'fortune-seekers', Karunakaran said the development did not dent his support base.

"In the present national politics, NCP is not an insignificant party. It is a partner of the Congress at the Centre as well as in Maharashtra. DIC(K) will take forward the talks on co-operating with such a party," Karunakaran told reporters.

Seeking to playdown reports that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was not enthusiastic about continuing its ties with the NCP in Kerala [Images] in the event of DIC(K) merging with it, Karunakaran said his party did not think about joining any front in the state.

DIC(K) had suffered serious erosion in its rank and file since last week with the move to merge with NCP gaining momentum in the wake of Karunakaran's meeting with NCP leader Sharad Pawar [Images] recently.