The UDF, Kerala’s nine-party ruling coalition led by the Congress, is in disarray due to a host of problems which include personal rivalries among leaders of different constituent parties. Front leaders are holding Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, also chairman of the front, responsible for complicating the situation with his alleged inability to handle issues effectively.
Chandy’s critics within the Congress and the UDF are citing the resignation of KB Ganesh Kumar of Kerala Congress(B) as Forest Minister on Monday over the charge of wife-beating as the latest example of his inability to deal with issues within the front and his own Government, which is surviving on a thin majority of just three seats in the 140-member State Assembly.
On Thursday, State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala said that the UDF had failed to settle the dispute between Ganesh and his father R Balakrishna Pillai, chairman of Kerala Congress(B), who had demanded his son’s expulsion from the Cabinet long back on the charge that he was not respecting the party’s sentiments in his actions as Minister.
Though Chennithala’s criticism was against the UDF leadership, sources in the Congress said that he was in effect expressing his dissatisfaction over how Chandy had protected Ganesh at crucial junctures antagonising Pillai, who was close to pro-Congress NSS, outfit of Naira, an upper caste Hindu community.
Of the eight partners of the Congress in the UDF, the Muslim league with 20 MlAs and the one-MlA RSP(B) are perhaps the only parties that have not so far expressed dissatisfaction in the conduct of affairs. Some parties are even reportedly contemplating switching sides and joining the CPI(M)-led Opposition UDF.
There are strong rumours that major UDF partner Kerala Congress (M) of Finance Minister KM Mani may align with the lDF to unseat the Government if the Congress rejects its claim for two seats in the coming lok Sabha elections. Mani has rejected the rumours but a top source in his party said, “In politics, you don’t rule out any possibility.”
The Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi (JSS) of KR Gowri and Communist Marxist Party (CMP) of MV Raghavan, both former Marxist firebrands, are reportedly waiting for the appropriate moment to leave the UDF in order to join the lDF. Frequent visits by leftist leaders to both of them have strengthened speculations to this effect.
According to critics of Chandy within the Congress, he has brought huge disrepute to the party, his own Government and the UDF with his ambiguous stands on issues relating to the Muslim league, Ganesh Kumar and Government Chief Whip PC George of the Kerala Congress(M), who is known as his personal trouble-shooter.
“The issue that culminated in Ganesh’s resignation, which has brought disrepute to Chandy himself as he is now accused of conspiring to cheat Ganesh’s wife over the allegation of domestic violence, was a simple problem between Ganesh and George. Chandy should have solved it at that stage itself,” said a Congress leader close to Ramesh Chennithala.
Instead of doing that, he protected Ganesh for a whole month only to push him into a humiliating exit, the leader said while pointing out that Chandy did not take action against George who had leveled serious charges against Ganesh “which the Chief Minister says” were baseless. “This situation should have been avoided,” he added.
UDF functionaries secretly admit that they could face a disaster in the next lok Sabha elections if the present situation does not improve in the coming months. “There are already these problems like price rise and charges of corruption that could work against the UDF in the polls. Intra-front problems are something we just cannot afford at this stage,” a UDF leader said.