Sharing of seats in Kerala’s ruling coalition, UDF, for the coming Assembly election is likely to prove a big headache for front leader Congress as allies are waiting for poll talks to start for staking claim for more seats than they had contested in the 2011 polls. The issue has already led to an explosion in one of the major UDF partners, the Kerala Congress (M).
As per the present state of affairs in the UDF, almost all its constituents barring the Muslim league and some very minor constituents are sure to demand more seats. The Congress itself is set to witness internal disputes over Assembly seats as its feeder outfits like the Youth Congress have already staked their claims.
In the forefront of the coalition partners that are certain to stake claim for more seats is the Kerala Congress (M) of KM Mani, who had resigned in November as Finance minister over corruption charges. The party has even issued veiled threats to the Congress by claiming that it had options before it if it is not getting more seats.
The KC(M) is on the verge of a split as a major section in the party is waiting for the appropriate moment to leave it and the UDF in order to join the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF protesting mainly against party chairman Mani’s refusal to allocate for the coming election the seats its leaders had contested in the 2011 poll.
Another party which is particular about getting more seats than it had contested in 2011 is the RSP. The present Kerala RSP is a confederation of two different parties, the RSP which had left the lDF on the eve of the 2014 lok Sabha election to join the UDF and the RSP(B) of labour Minister Shibu Baby John.
The RSP had contested a total of five seats - the then lDF partner had fielded four candidates and RSP(B) one - and won three of them in the 2011 Assembly election but it is bargaining for eight seats for the coming polls. In fact, one of the MlAs had resigned and left the party recently but that has failed to prompt the RSP to dilute its demand.
The general feeling among the UDF constituents is that the Congress is keeping a large number of seats for itself knowing well that it cannot win even half the seats it is contesting. “The Congress fights so many seats and loses most of them. It may not need all these seats if it can find a way to end its internal battles,” said an RSP leader.
As the coalition leader, the Congress party had fielded own candidates in 82 of the total 140 seats in the 2011 election and lost 44 of them. “We had contested 15 seats last time and won nine of them. Compare the performances and let them tell us whether we deserve more seats,” was how a KC(M) leader justified his party’s claim for more seats.
The Janata Dal (United), another minor UDF partner, will be demanding not just more seats but more winnable seats. It will also demand a guarantee from the Congress that there would be no efforts to defeat its candidates from the part of Congress leaders as it had allegedly happened in Palakkad constituency in the 2014 lok Sabha polls.
To pacify the JD(U) which has been threatening to return to the lDF which had left in 2009, Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy last week promised a Rajya Sabha seat to it. The Socialist Janata (Democratic), the erstwhile Avatar of the Kerala JD(U), had contested six seats and won two of them in the 2011 Assembly polls.
Apart from all these headaches, the Congress leadership is facing demands for more seats from its own feeder outfits. The Youth Congress has already raised demand for 25 seats by stating that leaders whose presence as candidates was not inevitable should not be given tickets and that people from feeder outfits should be considered in their place.