Giving a mortal blow to nay-sayers in the Congress, the Kerala Congress (M), the former UDF ally which had been ploughing a lonely furrow for the past many months, fielded its own candidate in the election for the Kottayam district panchayat presidency and got him elected with CPI(M) support, pulling the curtains down on whatever was left of the lingering bond with its former UDF ally.
In Wednesday’s election, the Congress was to field its candidate and win with KC(M) support. However, KC(M) decided to field its own candidate Zacharias Kuthiraveli, who won with the CPI(M) support piping the official Congress candidate to second position.
While the CPI member desisted from casting his vote, the vote cast by the lone member of the P.C. George-led Janapaksham was declared invalid. The 12 votes received by Mr. Kuthiraveli, included six votes of the KC(M) contingent and six of the CPI(M). The election was necessitated by the resignation of Congress’s Joshy Philip as president.
The Congress leaders said they were kept in the dark till the last moment by the KC(M) in the move that had upset the decades-old equilibrium that was in place both in the UDF and the LDF.
Speaking to media persons, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy dubbed it a ‘political betrayal’ and said KC(M) chairman K.M. Mani had no valid reasons for this unprecedented move. He could not make any legitimate reasons when he declared his decision to quit the UDF, but the coalition partners had always maintained political decency while dealing with the KC(M).
He said the KC(M) rank and file would not accept the trek with the CPI(M). He wanted CPI(M) leader V.S. Achuthanandan to make his stance clear on the party’s decision to support Mr. Mani.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala dubbed the KC(M) stance opportunistic and a result of political ‘horse trading.’ According to him, the Congress had decided to change the president on the basis of an agreement among all the 14 members of the district panchayat, including the six from the KC(M).
KC(M) chairman K.M. Mani, meanwhile, maintained that Wednesday’s developments were strictly local in nature. “It was a decision taken by the local leaders of the party against the Kottayam district committee of the Congress party whose statements against the party and the party chairman had pained them.”
He said neither he nor his son Jose K. Mani, MP, were in the know of this decision. “But I own their sentiment and the decision,” he said.
Referring to the Congress leaders’ comment that this was the end of the road for the KC(M) in the UDF, he said: ‘‘I have not asked anyone to take me into the UDF. Elections are years away and any decision on election policy will be taken at an appropriate time. To another question, he said Wednesday’s developments will not have any impact on the party’s stance in the Assembly (where it had functioned as an Opposition party for all practical purposes).
Meanwhile, Pannian Ravindran, former State secretary of the CPI, said the development in Kottayam were part of local adjustments and it would be discussed at the local level.
