Speaker G. Karthikeyan is one of the rare brands of leaders who set high standards of probity in political life, something which won him respect, admiration, and high esteem in fields beyond politics.
However, he happened to be a leader who under-rated his own potential in Kerala politics. Mr. Karthikeyan, or ‘GK’ as he was endearingly known to his friends and colleagues, made his entry into politics through the Kerala Students Union, from where he went on to head the State unit of the Youth Congress. Mr. Karthikeyan proved his organisational capabilities early in his career.
Foot soldiers
Along with Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Mr. Karthikeyan was handpicked by the late Congress leader K. Karunakaran to be his foot soldiers in his attempt to build the Congress(I) under the leadership of Indira Gandhi soon after the 1978 split in the Congress that found big names such as A.K. Antony, Vayalar Ravi, Oommen Chandy, V.M. Sudheeran, Aryadan Mohammed, P.C. Chacko, and many others in the Opposition camp.
While his colleague Mr. Chennithala sought greener pastures in New Delhi, Mr. Karthikeyan was content to cut his place out in Kerala politics. However, Mr. Karthikeyan fell out with Karunakaran when the latter started promoting his son, K. Muraleedharan.
Third Group
Along with Mr. Chennithala and M.I. Shanavas, he was part of the reformist movement in the Congress factional politics in the 1990s, posing the first challenge to the well-entrenched Karunakaran.
The reformists, later, became the Third Group in the Congress, but Mr. Karthikeyan went on to distance himself from factional politics.He has kept away from controversies, but did not hesitate to air his opinion on issues and take principled positions.
He strongly believed that political office would come in search of him. And it did so in 1995 when he became Electricity Minister in the Antony Cabinet and when he became Minister for Food, Civil Supplies, Culture, and Devaswoms, again in the Antony Cabinet of 2001-2004. Then, he got the opportunity to become Speaker of the State Assembly, a role he preformed with aplomb and the brevity it deserved.
If there was one ambition that went unfulfilled, it was his aspiration to become the president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.
Mr. Karthikeyan was instrumental in sowing the seeds for the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology. The Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Development of Environment, Science, and Technology that he established in 1992 was taken over by the State government to be converted into a premier institution focused on biotechnology.
Mr. Karthikeyan might not have left behind landmarks to be remembered by. But the values he upheld would prove to be a model worth emulating for those joining politics, especially against the backdrop of the emergence of the movement for clean politics.
