Congress panel sets agenda for Chennithala’s campaign

Ramesh Chennithala

The Congress political affairs committee has set the agenda for Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala’s month-long Padayorukkam campaign against the Centre and State Governments’ anti-people policies.

The focus of the campaign is to highlight the confrontation with the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front government, which has decided to pursue the solar scam cases.

The anti-BJP tenor is likely to be put in the back burner. The PAC, which is touted as a collective decision-making body, was unanimous in its decision to take on the LDF government politically and legally in the solar case.

It is but natural for Mr. Chennithala to take forward the Congress party’s collective voice when he launches his Padayorukkam on November 1 on the UDF platform. In between, the Assembly will hold its special session for the sole purpose of facilitating the tabling of Sivarajan Commission report on the solar scam.

Once the report is out, it would give another dimension to the growing confrontation between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress party.

Impact

The confrontation between the two major political formations is likely to have its impact on national politics since the Congress party is seeking to carve out a secular platform for Rahul Gandhi to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress wants the Left parties to come on board. It is in this context that Mr. Gandhi’s discussions with senior leaders on the solar issue, after the State government announced the series of action on the Sivarajan Commission report, should be viewed.

The CPI(M) is also going through an internal churn over its proposed alliance with the Congress party. The official leadership in the State is known to be opposed to an alliance with the Congress and therefore the timing of the solar decisions cannot be viewed as coincidence coming as it did on the eve of a crucial CPI(M) central committee meeting to discuss the Polit Bureau’s decision against an alliance with the Congress.

It remains to be seen how the imperatives of national politics will play out in the State and its impact on the course of developments.