The scene of battle in Kerala’s Congress party over a possible Cabinet reshuffle is all set to shift from State capital Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy planning to meet the party high command this week and his rival in the party, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, following him.
Chandy is set to leave for Delhi on Wednesday. The declared purpose of the visit is to meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over Iraq issue, but Chandy is certain to hold talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other central leaders with the goal of getting the high command's green signal for the Cabinet reshuffle.
Though the high command, finding itself in dire straits after the lok Sabha polls debacle, wants the Kerala party unit to settle disputes over the reshuffle on its own, Chandy's aim in holding the talks is to avoid that situation in the context of the stiff Opposition to his plan from other groups in the party, especially the 'I'-group led by Chennithala.
The Chief Minister knows that a consensus cannot be arrived at on the matter in the State unit as the 'I' group is opposing the reshuffle plan due to its apprehension about losing its prominence in the Cabinet. Chandy's earlier plan was to visit Delhi on July 29 but the trip was advanced as the meeting with Sushma Swaraj was rescheduled to Thursday.
Though Chennithala, former State Congress president, is claiming that the purpose of his planned Delhi visit is purely personal, sources close to him say that he will meet the party high command with the request not to grant permission to Chandy to carry out a Cabinet reshuffle at this juncture. State Congress chief VM Sudheeran also is against a reshuffle.
The speculations about a Cabinet reshuffle, which Chandy had declared even before the lok Sabha election, had strengthened over the weekend after Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan announcing that he is planning to step down in order to become active in politics. It is said that Karthikeyan is aiming to earn a berth in the State Cabinet.
Meanwhile, opposition to Chandy's planned Cabinet reshuffle has begun to come also from the party's allies in the ruling UDF it leads following reports that he may try to drop some of the Ministers who were facing the charge of non-performance or under-performance. Some of the allies have already spoken about their objections publicly.
Making his apprehensions public, Food and Civil supplies Minister Anoop Jacob of the Kerala Congress (J), a minor UDF partner, said on Sunday that he did not expect the Chief Minister to take away the Ministerial position allotted to his party.
"As far as I know, the Cabinet reshuffle is not going to affect our party," he hoped.
KC(J) chairman Johny Nellur has already made it clear that his party would resist any move to take away the Cabinet berth given to it. "This position was given to us on the collective decision of the UDF. It is true that a Cabinet reshuffle is the prerogative of the Chief Minister. But there should be talks within the UDF before any such exercise," he said.
A demand has come from within the Congress for takeover of the Education Portfolio from the Muslim league which is presently holding it. Sources in the Muslim league said that the party would not allow any such attempt. "Chandy can do whatever he wants with the portfolios the Congress holds but it should not affect us," said a senior league leader.