Giving a new twist to the faction war in Kerala’s Congress which intensified following disputes over a proposed Cabinet reshuffle, the ‘I’ group led by State party chief Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday decided not to extend any party help to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to run the State Government.
“It is not our responsibility to solve the Government’s problems,” said a senior leader belonging to the ‘I’ group, adding that there would be no effort from their side to settle the reshuffle issue. This stand makes it obvious that the coordination between the party controlled by Chennithala and the Government headed by Chandy could get weakened.
At the same time, the ‘I’ group withdrew from its reported demand for a change at the helm of the Government in 2014. There were rumours that the ‘I’ group wanted Chennithala to replace Chandy as Chief Minister on his completion of three years in office. Some leaders in the ‘I’ group claimed that the two factions had struck such a deal earlier.
“There is no question of a leadership change,” said K Sudhakaran, MP from Kannur and arguably the second-in-command in the ‘I’ group. “We had never put forward such a demand and there is no situation that warrants it,” he said even as leaders in his group continued discussions on how to end the standoff without damaging Chennithala’s image.
Observers said that the move to keep party away from the Government was not at all practical and such a situation would be detrimental to the interests of both the groups, particularly in the context of the coming lS election. However, reports said that this was only a ploy of the ‘I’ group to give a clear signal to the high command on the seriousness of the issue.
The standoff between the two groups and also between Chennithala and Chandy started after the Chief Minister and his ‘A’ group disagreed with the suggestion to induct the State party chief into the Cabinet as Deputy Chief Minister with the charge of the Home portfolio, looked after presently by Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, an ardent Chandy-loyalist.
Chandy’s ‘A’ group took a position that Chennithala could join the Cabinet by taking over any portfolio that was currently being looked after by Ministers from the ‘I’ group as State Congress chiefs who had joined the Cabinet earlier had not been given any special consideration. When then president K Muraleedharan became minister in 2004, he had got the Power portfolio. Chennithala and his group saw this as humiliation and betrayal. Even a one-to-one discussion between Chandy and Chennithala failed to find a solution to the problem.