Kerala Chief minister Oomen Chandy has astutely weathered many an internal and external storm without giving any doubts on the stability and continuity of the ministry under his leadership during the last two years even as the political environment during last nine months have remained quite turbulent.
However, he suddenly seems to be on a sticky wicket because of the brewing cold war between the Congress and its coalition partners NSS (The Nair Service Society) and Shri Narayana Dharma Pratipalan(SNDP) resulting into an open fight over the alleged neglect of the “majority community” leaders in the party’s state unit.
Developments within last 3 days have put the Chief Minister into a clumsy situation as both NSS (which represents the Nair community) and SNDP( which represents the Ezhava community)leaders asked their active members to resign all official posts in the government and semi-government organizations in the State as a mark of protest against the Statements of a few Congress leaders against the leaders of these two communities. The situation is fast turning towards the point of no return. They have alleged that “ the Chandy government is a government of the majority community run by the minority and for the minority”.
What has made things messier is the public vow by leaders of both these groups to teach a lesson to the Congress party in the 2014 LS polls. NSS General secretary G Sukumaran Nair and SNDP general secretary Velappalli Natesan have openly castigated the State Congress leaders and specially the Chief minister for brazenly supporting the minority community in the State at their cost of Nairs and Ezhavas.
Historically, the Nair community along with the Christians has remained the backbone of the Congress party in Kerala. The SNDP started supporting the Congress of late even as a major chunk of Ezhava voters always used to vote for the Communist parties. Even otherwise, these two caste bodies have had a love- hate relationship. Now they have joined hands together alleging that Kerala Hindus were discriminated against the present State government and that Hindu leaders were denied positions of power.
Even within the Congress, there is a growing disenchantment with the style of functioning of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Chandy is facing a barrage of criticism from his detractors within the party over the way he tackled many issues, including the Ganesh Kumar episode.
None of the Ministers in the Union cabinet appear to be happy with his lackadaisical functioning style. Leading pack is defence minister AK Antony who was unsparing in his criticism against the UDF government during his recent visit to his home state. So are Vayalar Ravi and Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran who made no bones about Congress leaders airing their views and dislike during discussions on TV channels.
But Congress leaders do not seem to have imbibed the import of the Antony advice. State party leaders continue to indulge in internecine sniping in total disregard of Antony’s counsel of caution. Antony’s warning note acquires added significance in view of the fact that parliamentary elections are just one year away.
All the more shocking is the statement of KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala who too seems to have become quite disenchanted and is trying his best to keep the party leaders in check. However, he too does not seem to be happy with Chandy’s policy of appeasement of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) He has already cautioned that a few changes are likely to happen in the Oommen Chandy ministry to correct the pronounced pro-minorities tilt in the state cabinet as it had already started sending wrong signals.
Added to Chandy’s discomfiture are UDF allies. For instance, the Kerala Congress(M) president K M Mani finds himself on the horns of a dilemma. Mani is under pressure to take action against P C George whose words and deeds as the chief whip of the Government has drawn the flak of a big section of the KC(M). Leading the attack against George whose abusive remarks against revered UDF leaders – living and dead – have created widespread revulsion and anger, is the faction within the party owing allegiance to P J Joseph. Speculation is rife that if Mani refuses to act against George, the pro-Joseph office-bearers of the KC(M) may quit their positions, precipitating a crisis.
Likewise, the Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithy (JSS) is in a mood to quit the UDF. At the recently held party meeting, majority of the JSS’s district secretaries favoured the party parting ways with the UDF.They are angry at the refusal to take action against chief whip P C George who used indecent language against JSS chief K R Gowri. JSS MLA K K Shaju, however, is said to be opposed to the party leaving the UDF. A final decision will be taken at a special convention of the party to be held in August. The CPI(M) leaders, including VS Achuthanandan, have, welcomed Gowri’s decision to quit the UDF.
Last but not the least, the Communist Marxist Party (CMP), another ally of the Congress in the UDF, is also extremely unhappy over the Congress’s big brother attitude. An angry CMP president M V Raghavan has gone to the extent of saying that the need of the hour is to strengthen left unity as the CMP is basically a left party! Significantly, CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan himself met Raghavan recently. Though Vijayan tried to play down the import of the visit saying that he met Raghavan, after a gap of 12 years, only to enquire about his health, it has touched off speculation about the CMP also making its exit from the UDF. Vijayan’s visit has to be viewed against the background of the failure of KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala to assuage the anger of Raghavan.
The fact is that the resentment within the UDF is mounting with every passing day. Outwardly, the UDF leaders are putting up a brave face, ruling out the possibility of the Front unraveling. But there is no mistaking the growing concern among the UDF constituents over the turmoil within the KC(M) and the JSS. (IPA)
Even otherwise, UDF government’s performance in Chandy’s leadership during the last two years has not been very spectacular. His critics, especially those in the opposition CPI(M)-led LDF, however, hold that Chandy has been “long on words and short on performance” as the state has been in the grip of deep economic and social crises.
In his last press interaction with the media , he claimed that major strides had been made in infrastructure development without compromising on government firm’s commitment to social security of the poor and needy.
The projects, which are set to be on track soon having done the ground work, include Kochi Metro, Smart City, Kannur airport, Vizhinjam port, mono rail for Thiruvanathapuram and Kozhikode and development of national waterways.
He also claimed that his government was soon going to unveil a long-term perspective plan for the state seeking to strengthen its economy and social security, taking the Scandinavian economies as role model. He plans for a strong push for the infrastructure sector, including the realisation of two new airports, a metro rail project, an IT park and a major port in the state.
The biggest challenge for Chandy is going to be 2014 Lok Sabha polls as the LDF would try its best to turn in into a referendum for his government’s performance on many fronts.
The UDF’s popularity has already started taking a beating and a poor performance of the UDF, with the Congress contesting 17 of the 20 seats, could even cost him his job as his immediate Congress predecessor A K Antony had set a precedent of stepping down from the Chief Minister’s post in 2004 after UDF did badly in the Lok Sabha polls.Significantly, it was after Antony’s resignation that Chandy had his first stint as chief minister from 2004 to 2006..
The polarisation between V.S. Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan loyalists in the opposition CPI-M is old news, but the ruling Congress appears to be no better with the increasing friction between the Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala factions.Party insiders say the majority faction in the Congress is controlled by Chandy’s close aides. The other camp is a grouping once led by K. Karunakaran and now controlled by Chennithala.The friction in the party began when Chennithala decided to contest the assembly polls in April 2011.
A section of Congressmen also point out that while Chandy has no issue in giving a berth to Chennithala, the point of contention appears to be the home portfolio. For almost three decades, the practice has been that the chief minister keeps home to himself.
Convener of Congress-led United Democratic Front P.P. Thankachan has said issues would be sorted out during a meeting of all leaders on May 30. However, the bigger question is if the Congress party is would be able to save itself from disgrace in LS polls 2014. It is here that the Congress President has to take a firm view and ask the Chief Minister to take corrective steps.
Defence Minister AK Antony has been asked to sort things out. But the whole issue seems to be easier than done as there are wheels under wheels and only a direct intervention from the Congress President may finally douse the fire.
(Posted on May 31, 2013 @ 9.20pm)
(Ajay Jha is a Commentator and Independent Writer and Analyst on Politics, security and Economy of South And West Asia. His email id is: Ajay N Jha <ajayjha30@gmail.com>)
