In a setback to Kerala’s Congress-led ruling UDF on the eve of the crucial Assembly election, the third biggest coalition constituent, Kerala Congress (M), split on Thursday with a major section belonging to one of the two groups that constituted the party walking out in protest against the “autocratic, unilateral family rule” of party chairman KM Mani, who resigned in November as Finance Minister over bribery charges.
The split in the KC(M), known as a party that “splits as it grows and grows as it splits” due to the frequent splits in its 51-year history, became inevitable because of hiccups in seat allocation for the coming Assembly polls and Mani’s alleged bid to make his son Jose K Mani MP the next chairman of the party.
“Only those with no sense of pride can continue in the party led by KM Mani. He is running the party like a family concern without any regard for democratic traditions and his plan is to make his son his successor,” said general secretary Antony Raju, one of the three top leaders of the breakaway group, while announcing the decision to split.
The plan of the breakaway group is to join the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF. The CPI(M) leadership has allegedly given them some assurances about this. However, the CPI, second biggest lDF constituent, and senior Marxist and Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan have warned against absorbing them without detailed discussions.
(Mani) has transformed this movement into a commercial institution,” alleged senior leader former MP Francis George, son of the party’s founder leader KM George, who will lead the breakaway group. “There are serious allegations (of bribery) against (Mani). It has severely affected the credibility of the party,” he added.
Antony Raju also alleged that Mani and his son were trying to take the KC(M) to the BJP camp and that Jose K Mani, “who is said to become a Minister of State in the Centre”, had held secret talks with BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi on the night of February 2. The KC(M) has eight members in the State Assembly and none of them has aligned with the rebels.
Though the immediate reason for the split seemed to be disputes over seat allocation for the Assembly polls, the KC(M) rebels claimed that they were leaving the party as they could not put up anymore with Mani’s autocracy and neglect of farmers. The main support base of the Catholic Church-backed KC(M) is the cash-crop farmers in eastern and central Kerala.
The Kerala Congress (M) is currently a confederation of two parties, the KC(M) of Mani and KC(J) led by Irrigation Minister PJ Joseph. Those who walked away from the party on Thursday were loyalists of Joseph but his decision was to stay on in the party in which he was working chairman. “We will revive the Kerala Congress (Joseph),” said Antony Raju.
“I am not in agreement with their decision to leave the party,” said Joseph. “My decision is to stay on in this party as its leader and continue as part of the UDF,” he said. The Joseph group, a constituent of the lDF for several decades, had left it in 2010 when he was a minister in the Achuthanandan Government and merged with the KC(M) of Mani.
Though there is stiff opposition within the lDF to the reported to move to absorb the KC(M) rebels by giving them Assembly seats to contest, the CPI(M) thinks such a move could bring big electoral advantages for the front in central Kerala due to these leaders’ influence over the farmers and the mighty Catholic Church.
At the same time, the Mani group of the KC(M) said that nothing would happen to the party just because some rebels walked out. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy responded to the development saying it would not affect the UDF. “It is the KC(M) which is the constituent of the UDF. It is not a big issue if some individuals walk out from it,” he said.