The escalation of group war in Kerala’s Congress and the standoff between Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala over a proposal for Cabinet reshuffle are worrying the constituents of the nine-party ruling UDF even as the Congress High Command on Friday indicated that it could step in to end the disputes.
“I still hope that my party colleagues in Kerala can settle the issue amicably. They are capable of doing that. If they can’t solve the problems completely, there are ways of doing it. Congress is not a State party and it has a system of dealing with such problems. But I must tell you that there will be no explosion in Kerala’s Congress,” said Defence Minister AK Antony in Kannur.
Antony’s unambiguous hint came just hours after Madhusudan Mistry, Congress general secretary in-charge of Kerala affairs, gave a stiff warning to the party leaders against making statements in public on organisational affairs. Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had the other day issued a similar warning.
The battle between the ‘I’ group in the Congress led by Chennithala and the ‘A’ group of Chandy and the standoff between the two leaders had escalated following a proposal to induct Chennithala into the Cabinet as Deputy Chief Minister with the charge of the Home portfolio was rejected by the ‘A’ group and the Chief Minister.
The ‘A’ group held that the Home portfolio, held presently by an ardent Chandy-loyalist, could not be given to Chennithala but he would have to satisfy himself and the group with some other minor portfolio. The ‘I’ group, which felt that Chandy and his faction had humiliated Chennithala through this, decided not to support the Government anymore.
Sources said that central leaders of the Congress spoke to Chandy and Chennithala on Friday afternoon. Chennithala reportedly told the leadership that he was humiliated over the issue of his induction into the Cabinet. However, they asked Chennithala to end his non-cooperation with the Government.
At the same time, leaders of various constituent parties of the ruling UDF admitted that they were concerned about the developments in the Congress, the leader of the coalition. They are apprehensive that the present crisis in the Congress could affect the prospects of that party and the front as a whole in the coming lok Sabha polls.
There are even apprehensions that the current standoff between Chandy and Chennithala and the intense war between their groups could jeopardise the very existence of the Government which is surviving on a wafer-thin majority with just 73 MlAs in the 140-member State Assembly.
“Such a problem is indeed a cause of worry to the entire UDF. Doesn’t such an issue in the Congress, which is leading the ruling front, mean an administrative freezeIJ This should end at the earliest,” said PC George, vice-chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), the third biggest constituent of the UDF, and the Government’s Chief Whip.
Johny Nelloor, chairman of the Kerala Congress (Jacob), a minor partner of the UDF, said that the crisis had landed the entire UDF in a crisis. “Everybody knows that there are two groups and that they are not on good terms. As the party leading the front, it is the duty of Congress not to cause problems for the front,” he said.
The Muslim league, the second biggest party in the coalition, is yet to formally complain but sources in the party even went to the extent of saying that the Congress leaders were acting as though they alone were responsible for the Government in the State.