The new round of political tussle in the Congress, involving Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V.M. Sudheeran, mainly over the amended liquor policy, is heading towards a flashpoint, with the former dropping sufficient hints that he proposed to go his own way in running the government.
To further this strategy, Congress legislators have decided to meet the Chief Minister on Monday to offer him their unstinted support in rejuvenating the State administration which has been facing a policy paralysis in the past six months owing to differences over the liquor policy.
Extraordinary moveThe move is extraordinary and extreme in its content and is touted to be a virtual expression of lack of confidence in the KPCC president.
Even though party leaders do not explicitly state it, Mr. Chandy himself has taken the initiative for this extraordinary move. He has also succeeded in roping in Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who heads the other faction in the Congress.
Congress legislators cite several reasons for adopting the strategy. One of their contentions is that it will not be in the larger interests of the party to allow the policy paralysis to continue as important decisions had to be taken to recapture the speed with which Mr. Chandy went about his job during the beginning of his term.
Onus on ChandySince he heads the government, the onus is on Mr. Chandy to step up the pace of governance during the remaining part of its term, it is pointed out. Besides, legislators are finding it difficult to explain the growing differences on policy issues.
With Mr. Sudheeran suspected to be reluctant to convene party committee meetings, the legislators feel that they are being deprived of a forum to express their views. They also criticise Mr. Sudheeran for refusing to accept the majority decision of the UDF to make practical changes to the liquor policy. It may be recalled that Mr. Sudheeran had supported the majority decision of the UDF to implement a stringent liquor policy, when it was announced in August.
Interestingly, 16 legislators, owing allegiance to Mr. Chennithala, met in Thiruvananthapuram recently to consolidate their faction’s stand. It is clear that the solidarity that is now being worked up in favour of Mr. Chandy will be only in relation to the liquor policy and factional leaders have dropped enough hints that factional fights will continue in the organisational elections. They would offer full support to Mr. Chandy in his direct confrontation with Mr. Sudheeran.
