If the United Democratic Front manages to wrest power from the Left Democratic Front, Congress leader Oommen Chandy has a high probability to return as chief minister. The former chief minister, however, said it was too early to have such a discussion. He said that the party high command’s decision would be final.
Talking to Manorama Online in the middle of a hectic election campaign, Chandy said that the Congress-led alliance faced no rout in the recent elections to the local self-government bodies in Kerala. It was a message to do better, he claimed. He also said that the decision not to contest from Nemom was entirely his.
* How tough was the candidate selection amid headwinds from reports of a possible upper hand for the LDF?
We had clear guidelines from the AICC leadership, especially Rahul Gandhi, on the selection of candidates. Those pertained to giving priority to youngsters, women and fresh faces. We could do much on that front. We believe we have covered a lot of ground when compared to previous elections. More than half of our candidates are aged between 25 and 50. That is a big change in itself. Though we could not do so much when it comes to women, we have increased the representation from last time.
* What is the basis of your claim that the UDF will come to power?
The main element is the trust we place on the people of Kerala. They know everything. I do not think that they will fall for the Left front’s campaign. What is the people’s experience? What they have experienced at a practical level was not an encouraging one. The LDF is raising so many claims. They have no bearing on facts though. Take the claim on the ‘kit’ for example. They have distributed the kits as they claim. But they were hesitant to distribute Onam kits. They did not give it, citing the floods as a reason.
Onam is very important to Malayalis. No one should go hungry on that day. That is why the UDF government distributed Onam kits. But they (the LDF government) denied it citing various reasons. Now they are distributing kits because they are afraid of going to the people. The UDF had given free rice to all poor people in the state. When we came to power in 2011, the main project we implemented within the first 100 days was to distribute free rice to all BPL (below poverty line) families. What have they done? They increased the price from Re 1 to Rs 2 per kilo. People know of all these things.
* The UDF has formed various committees to face the election. Was this change of strategy prompted by the setback you received in the local body elections?
I do not agree to the observation that we received a serious setback in the local body elections. The LDF has an upper hand. The three elections (parliament, assembly and local bodies) have different patterns in Kerala. There is a pattern to the parliamentary election. That is mostly favourable to the Congress because national issues are involved. The state election is fought politically. It is motivated by political backgrounds.
Meanwhile, the local body elections are centred on candidates. The UDF should have good candidates and the rebels should not be good ones. Only then we could make it big. If you compare the local body poll results to that of 2015, we have not faced a big failure. Yet we took it as an indication – as a message that we have to be more careful and show more interest. We changed our way of functioning accordingly.
* Many senior leaders have rebelled or left the party raising issues of seat selection or factional interests. Has the leadership failed to guard against it?
There has been lapses. There are protests as part of that. But we are doing all we could to address those issues.
* Many people, including those in the high command, has disagreed to the way Lathika Subhash registered her protest. Yet did the party do justice to her?
Lathika Subhash is a party worker who deserves to be a candidate. She is the state president of the Mahila Congress. She could have been chosen, but the way she protested made it impossible for the high command to help her. She zeroed in on a seat and insisted on getting it. Ettumanur emerged as a seat P J Joseph could claim during the seat-sharing talks with his party. Lathika said that she would not settle for anything other than Ettumanur. She wanted the party to get the seat back from the Kerala Congress for her. She asked me about another seat only after returning from Delhi on March 12. I told her that it was too late and she should have told me earlier. She said that she could try if the other seat were Vypeen. That is in another district. Yet I told her I will look into it. But a candidate was fixed there by then and the election committee approved it. She was deserving but she made it impossible for the party to consider that claim.
She was asking why the party could not give her a seat like it did for the KSU president. The KSU president asked for a particular seat. When it was clear that he could not be fielded there, he himself suggested another seat. That choice was approved. Lathika did not create such a situation. We do not approve of her way of protest. She should not have done that while being a part of the party.
* Why was your name suggested as a candidate for Nemom? Some people say it was part of a game.
There was no pressure, direction or nudging from any other leader when it comes to Nemom. I decided it.
* Can we see K Muraleedharan’s candidate in Nemom as a message that the Congress views the BJP as its main opponent?
Only the Congress can counter the BJP in India. The Congress has always fought the BJP without compromising. The Left is boasting now, but you know what they had done. They contested together in 1977. They came together with a single-point agenda of defeating Indira Gandhi.
In 1989, they teamed with the BJP to bring V P Singh to power. The BJP grew from there. They had just two MPs in 1984. Their growth started in 1989 when they supported the V P Singh government. They partnered with the BJP whenever they could and even contested together. They always took an opportunistic stand. The Congress has always fought the BJP. We will do it always. K Muraleedharan’s fight is part of that.
* Were you trying to get a pulse of the popular mood of Puthuppally when you launched a ‘Puthuppally yatra’?
I already told you that I faced no pressure to contest from Nemom. I decided not to when I saw the people’s reaction in Puthuppally. Puthuppally is integral to me. You can’t take me out of Puthuppally. We are one. I do take in the mood and sentiments of the place. Still the decision was purely mine. There was no external influence. I hold complete responsibility.
* Who will be your chief minister if the UDF comes to power? What will be your criteria?
A Congress chief minister is picked by the high command. The high command will take an appropriate decision. There has never been a dispute over the post. Nor will it happen in future.
