The persistence of the Kerala Congress (B), a minor constituent of Kerala’s ruling UDF, in its demand for the re-induction into the Cabinet of its lone MlA KB Ganesh Kumar, who had on April 1 resigned as Forest Minister following a domestic violence charge against him, has led to intensification of the protracted faction war in the Congress, leader of the front
While Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, head of the Congress’s ‘A’ group, has interpreted as “media creations” the reports associated with the KC(B)’s demand, the “I” group led by State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala views the ally’s move as a ploy designed by Chandy to reject on ‘technical grounds’ the high command’s reported instruction to make him a Minister.
The Chandy Cabinet already has 20 members and the maximum addition that can be made to the strength is just one. Once Ganesh fills that vacancy, Ramesh can become Minister only if someone else vacates his berth. In the present situation, the Congress high command would not be prepared to bring about such a situation and that is what Chandy is banking on, observers say.
Chennithala has said that it is up to the Chief Minister to decide whether to re-induct into the Cabinet Ganesh Kumar, whose is yet to clear his name from the charges of immoral behavior. But leaders of the ‘I’ group say that this position is akin to the one he had taken much earlier – that “The Chief Minister could go his way, I would go mine”.
Ganesh’s father and former minister R Balakrishna Pillai, also KC(B) chairman and the only former minister in Kerala to be imprisoned for corruption, has served some sort of ultimatum to Chandy for making his son a Minister again saying that the UDF would suffer badly in the coming lok Sabha election if this is not done.
Ganesh had last week announced his decision to resign as MlA, saying that he had given his letter of resignation to his father, but Pillai, who first refused to confirm or deny his son’s statement, denied any such development. He, however, asserted that it was his party’s demand that his son be re-inducted to the Cabinet.
Observers say that the dramatic posture adopted by the KC(B) could be part of a strategy devised by Chandy himself to keep Chennithala away from the Cabinet. The only vacancy available in the Cabinet is the one that Genesh had left. If he fills that vacancy once again, the high command will have limitations in asking Chandy to induct Chennithala into the Cabinet, they say.
Sources in the Congress indicated that the high command wanted to settle the issues in the State party unit once and for all by making Chennithala the Deputy Chief Minister, which alone would satisfy the ‘I’ group. But Chandy and his loyalists view this move as a prelude to his removal as Chief Minister once the lok Sabha election is over.
“As per indications, the Chief Minister has lost credibility in front of the high command following the allegations against him in the solar scam, especially as complaints have come up from within the party and the UDF, and several other issues. It seems that Chandy also has got some hints of this thinking in Delhi,” said a group-neutral Congress leader.
The leader said that the high command could not think of removing Chandy as Chief Minister at this juncture as it did not want to vitiate the already vexed faction fight in the party and to create a feeling of disunity within the party as well as outside it.