Are the recent attacks by Kerala’s top Congress leader and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy against the NDA Government at the Centre over issues related to demonetisation part of his bid to earn a place in the central leadership of the partyIJ Yes, say observers and group-neutral functionaries of Kerala’s faction-riddled Congress unit.
According to them, Chandy is indeed on a move to somehow migrate to the central leadership as he is convinced that such a shift is extremely necessary for him to stay an influential leader considering the current state of affairs in the State Congress. Chandy presently holds no official position in the Congress or the Opposition UDF it leads in the State.
Even close aides of Chandy are of the opinion that it is high time he got a position in the High Command though his absence in Kerala may have serious impact on the party’s State unit as he is the most popular party leader in the State. However, observers say that such a migration is not easy for Chandy as there are not many leaders in the High Command who like him much.
The list of central Congress leaders who do not like Chandy much starts with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who was forced to grant most of the Kerala leader’s demands during allocation of tickets for last May’s Assembly election simply because of his popularity despite the strong demand from a large section not to make tainted leaders candidates.
Chandy has been leveling scathing criticisms recently against the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Finance Ministry over the demonetisation issue. The former Chief Minister had not been in the habit of playing the national-level politics but it now seems that he has started doing that all of a sudden.
Chandy has so far mounted two scathing attacks against the Centre by accusing it of a bid to rope in a blacklisted UK company for printing polymer currency notes. On Wednesday, he alleged that the Centre was yet to respond to his charges.
He had also attacked Modi for his silence on the gains demonetization had brought for the nation during his speech on the New Year eve.
According to sources in the Congress, Chandy is trying to convince national leaders that he is capable of functioning as a central leader as effectively as he had been discharging his organizational and administrative duties in Kerala. However, reports from the AICC office indicate that the leadership is in no hurry to recognize the value of his anti-Centre attacks.
“Chandy has essentially been a State leader. As far as I know he has never shown any interest in an AICC berth. But when he is convinced that the decisions and actions being taken by the high command on Kerala affairs happen to be inappropriate as far as he is concerned, it is only logical for him to examine the option of migrating to Delhi,” said a Chandy-loyalist.
However, the main reason for Chandy’s move to seek a berth in national leadership is said to be the setbacks he and the ‘A’ group he is heading in the State party have been suffering since the Congress-led UDF’s devastation in the Assembly election held in May. The Chandy group feels that the high command is continuously sidelining it and its leader in party affairs.
The former chief minister is currently locked in a silent war with the high command, which effectively is identical with Working Committee member AK Antony as far as Kerala affairs are concerned, and Antony’s deputy in the State, PCC chief VM Sudheeran, over the alleged neglect it had showed to the ‘A’ group in the appointment of district party chiefs a few weeks ago.
Despite being the most popular State leader of Congress perhaps in entire South India, Chandy is finding it difficult to safeguard his interests and those of his faction. “He knows the source of his troubles is the high command and the only way to make things work for him and his group is by getting into the national leadership using his popularity,” said a senior journalist.