Kasaragod: The DDF (Democratic Development Front), a breakaway faction that reduced the Congress to a single member in East Eleri in 2015, may be history, but its shadow hovers over one of the Congress’s only three surviving bastions in Kasaragod, the other being neighbouring Balal and Kallar. Losing East Eleri again is not an option. And that is why the party continues to bend for one man: the mercurial rebel James Panthammakkal. The DDF, which retained power in 2020, still haunts the party despite a high-voltage but bitter merger in November 2022.

This week, as the East Eleri mandalam committee prepares to send its list of candidates for 17 of the 18 wards to the District Congress Committee (DCC), Panthammakkal -- now the DCC vice-president -- has already sent his own list of 13 names to DCC president P K Faisal.

Crucially, he has proposed himself for Ward 10 (Kannivayal), where panchayat president Joseph Mutholil has already begun campaigning. “This merger exists only on paper. He still behaves like a rebel,” said Mutholil, the most senior Congress leader on the panchayat board.

Mandalam committee president George Karimadam insisted there would be only one list. "James was by my side when we took the unanimous decision," he said. But when asked about Kannivayal, he admitted that the names of Mutholil and Panthammakkal are in contention in Ward 10.  “Let them contest. Whoever wins will be the vice-president of the panchayat. That will be my recommendation to the party,” he said.

A KPCC member from the panchayat laughed at the indecision. “Allowing James to contest against Mutholil will hurt workers who stayed loyal,” she said.

Why East Eleri matters
Kasaragod has 41 local bodies. The Congress heads only six -- all gram panchayats. And its real muscle lies in just three of them: East Eleri, Balal and Kallar, all perched in the hill ranges and dominated by settlers from central Travancore. With the CPM confined to a ward or two, the Congress cannot afford another loss in East Eleri -- especially to its own rebels. Mutholil alleged James is working to help the CPM expand in a panchayat where it has barely any base. “He is propping up dissent to weaken the Congress,” he said.

Even so, the Congress leadership continues to rely on, or fear, Panthammakkal because of his record. The DDF demolished the Congress in 2015 and retained power in 2020, though with the CPM's support. That fear pushed the party, led by K Sudhakaran, to push for a “merger” in 2022. And Panthammakkal made it a bitter experience.

As part of the deal, he had to step down as the panchayat president and hand over the reins to Mutholil, and as a goodwill gesture, the Congress offered him four of the 13 seats on the board of directors of the party-controlled East Eleri Service Co-Operative Bank.

But after getting a foothold in the bank, Panthammakkal got three more Congress directors to his fold and staked a claim to the president’s post. The Congress was saved from Panthammakkal’s “treachery” by sheer luck, said the KPCC member quoted above. One of his directors cast an invalid vote, and the result was tied at 6-6, and the toss of a coin went in favour of the Congress nominee P M Mathew Padinjarel. But the DDF cornered the vice-president’s post.

This happened six days before the formal merger, triggering calls within the mandalam to scrap the deal. But KPCC president K Sudhakaran pushed ahead.Even after the merger, Panthammakkal waited for nearly four months to step down as panchayat president.

Then came another shock: for the panchayat president’s election, he pushed his candidate as the official Congress nominee, and the party acquiesced. The DCC president even issued a whip in support of Panthammakkal’s candidate.

By then the Congress, too, learned a trick or two from him, and the faction, led by Mutholil, fought back and won the presidency -- with the support of the two CPM members.

After two years as president, Mutholil may now have to fight Panthammakkal directly just to make it to the panchayat board.

A year ago, the mandalam committee passed a resolution demanding Panthammakkal’s expulsion from the party. The leadership not just ignored it but went ahead and made him DCC vice-president. “He has his way with the leadership. He may even be made the official candidate against Mutholil,” said the KPCC member.

Mutholil, however, was confident -- or hopeful. “I don’t think James will contest against me,” he said. “I’ve already covered half the houses in Ward 10.” But the party has not yet finalised the candidate, he quickly added.

Much before the elections were declared, Congress supporters in Ward 10 (Kannivayal) and Ward 15 (Kollada), a CPM pocket, put up billboards inviting Mutholil to contest from their wards. “There is no alternative, there is no replacement. Welcome Mutholil,” read the billboards.

Of the 18 wards, five are trouble-free. Candidates are set for Ward 2 (Chittarikkal) and Ward 6 (Thayyeni). Ward 15 (Kollada), a CPM pocket, has no extra claimants. Ward 13 (Arimba), reserved for ST women, is settled. Kamballur, which was a three-way fight among CPM, Congress and former DDF, also has only one candidate. “In the remaining 13 wards, James has his own list,” Mutholil said.

According to KPCC guidelines, if more than one name comes up from a ward, the decision should not be put to a vote at the ward level. Instead, the names should be sent to the mandalam core committee. “James says he was not part of the core committee, and so the decisions are not binding on him. So the dispute is before the District Congress Committee,” Mutholil said.

The KPCC member said the party leadership is edging out loyal workers by bowing to James’s pressure. “Yes, DDF shook us in 2015. But we clawed back to seven seats in 2020, and even James managed only seven — he had to lean on the CPM to run the panchayat. Since then, the Congress has grown stronger, and its supporters are already well accommodated in the mandalam and block committees. There was no need to dance to his tantrums,” she said.

Panthammakkal is keeping his cards close. He said he would speak later.