Chandy has, through this shrewd manoeuvre, also given a lesson or two on astute political thinking to a bunch of unsuspecting Congress greenhorns.In one deadly swoop former chief minister Oommen Chandy, who many thought had retired to the larger concerns of national politics, has felled not one but two seasoned Congress leaders in what is now derisively called the “old age home coup”.
Chandy has, through this shrewd manoeuvre, also given a lesson or two on astute political thinking to a bunch of unsuspecting Congress greenhorns. Nonetheless, though Chandy's moves might seem Machiavellian, the art of political survival demands that K M Mani be appeased, and his party be promptly brought back to the UDF fold.
But while putting in place this macro plan of expanding the voter base of the opposition United Democratic Front, Oommen Chandy has also put to work his micro scheme of slashing to size two Congress leaders with immense clout at the Centre.
The incumbent deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, P J Kurien, has been Chandy's target for quite long. He had attempted to dislodge Kurien from the Rajya Sabha in 2012.
Chandy, who was then chief minister, wanted senior Congress leader and two-time MLA N P Moideen as Congress candidate in place of Kurien. The Congress High Command had overruled him.
Now, even those within the party believe that the Congress 'Youth Brigade' was subtly instigated by Chandy to raise the banner of revolt.
During a recent meeting of the KPCC executive, at a time when discussions for the Rajya Sabha seats began in earnest, Chandy is said to to have stated that the young leaders of the party did not know how and when to pitch for their cause.
Four youth leaders, of whom Shafi Parambil is the lone Chandy loyalist (Hibi Eden and Anil Akkara are pro-Ramesh Chennithala, and V T Balram, like a senior Congress leader once said, is 'insanely independent'), were adequately provoked by this casually thrown rebuke by Chandy.
They also knew, at least presumed, that if they were going to revolt, they will have the backing of Chandy. Ramesh Chennithala, too, had an axe to grind with Kurien. The opposition leader believes that it was Kurien's conspiracy which floored him in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls in Mavelikkara.
Even those within the party believe that the Congress 'Youth Brigade' was subtly instigated by Chandy to raise the banner of revolt.Kurien had wanted to contest from the seat, but Chennithala insisted on the seat. Eventually, with none to support his candidature, Kurien lost out, just the way the young MLAs wanted.
Dramatic twist with OC touch
The young turks were not prepared for the twist in the tale.
The KC(M), by then a miserable political orphan, demanded a Rajya Seat, and, worse, got it. The youth leaders, still wet behind their ears, had no notion that for Chandy the game had just begun.
Brushing aside Kurien was just half the job done. Chandy, fondly called OC by partymen, knew who the High Command's next choice will be if Kurien was unacceptable – P C Chacko, a vehemently independent Congress veteran.
Chacko had defied even giants like K Karunakaran. Chacko, highly regarded for the non-partisan manner in which he had steered the Joint Parliamentary Committee set up to probe the alleged scam in the grant of 2G spectrum and telecom license from 1998 to 2009, has resolutely kept away from group politics. P C Chacko in Delhi will mean a power centre for disgruntled Congressmen to rally around.
Jose K Mani's candidature has effectively nixed the prospect. Chandy might have had his personal scores to settle, but political survival is an instinct sharper than the petty egos of leaders. Chandy, even while extracting his pound of flesh, wanted the Congress to prepare for the imminent Lok Sabha polls in early 2019. Chandy was only taking a leaf out of his bete noire, K Karunakaran's book, when he worked hard behind the scenes to get back K M Mani into the fold.
The magic wand of coalition
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and Oommen Chandy expect the present revolt to die down after the leadership meetings on Monday and TuesdayWay back in 1970, Karunakaran (with just nine MLAs at his command) took the lead in stitching up a seemingly fantastical chimera-like hybrid political formation, with parts from as diverse parties as the CPI, the Congress and the Kerala Congress, to form a government with C Achutha Menon as CM. The strange experiment lasted a record seven years. Through this masterstroke, Karunakaran unleashed the magic of coalition to Kerala.
Even an uncompromising politician like Pinarayi Vijayan has woken up to the magic. The chief minister has given ministership to single-digit parties like the NCP and Kerala Congress (S). He did not even bother to swear in his close associate E P Jayarajan, who was officially cleared of the charge of nepotism, when both A K Saseendran and Thomas Chandy had to step down. He lovingly kept the cabinet berth warm for a minor, seemingly insignificant, ally.
This was not all. He invited M P Veerendra Kumar, for whom he had once publicly expressed utter contempt, back into the LDF fold. He also welcomed R Balakrishna Pillai, a man sent to jail by the CPM. And then, throwing to wind the CPM custom of considering deserters as heretics to be chased to the end of the world, he warmly welcomed Gouriamma back into the LDF. He is also moving heaven and earth to win back the Ezhava community, though not perhaps in the form of BDJS.
The Chengannur verdict shows that the reverse migration of the community had already taken place.
The CM went after even K M Mani, against whom the worst charges of corruption were hurled by his party. Quite tellingly, even a bit touchingly, he kept wooing Mani till the last. As the LDF attempts to accumulate support drop by drop, the UDF is badly mauled by desertions. Their plight is so bad that it cannot count on even the Muslim League support if it loses the next assembly elections. The rise of the right wing forces will prompt the League to associate with the winning secular formation.
It is just that Oommen Chandy has read the writing on the wall just before it would be taken over by election graffiti.
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