Adoor Prakash snaps at VD Satheesan again; will he be second time lucky?

Thiruvananthapuram: After his October 1 outburst, UDF convenor Adoor Prakash has found just the right moment to once again pour scorn at Chief Minister VD Satheesan.

On October 1, when he called a press conference at the KPCC headquarters, Prakash sounded resentful, even defiant. "As the chairman of the UDF, it is the Chief Minister who has to take the initiative for such meetings. Since he has not said anything, we have not been able to convene a meeting," Adoor Prakash had then said. He also resented that it was through the media that he came to know of crucial decisions like the appointment of Muslim League leader and former minister M K Muneer as chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission.

On Tuesday, the UDF convenor sounded like a man who had nothing to lose. He was virtually laughing at the Chief Minister.

When he was asked why the UDF had not yet convened, Prakash said: "You will have to ask the UDF chairman (the CM) about this." He even looked pleased with the question. On October 1, the UDF convenor had blurted out without anyone asking.

On Tuesday, he waited for more posers, and was rewarded. "It is said that the UDF Excise Policy would be announced by the end of this month. And if the UDF has still not convened, does it mean that there is no collective responsibility?" he was asked.

"Of course, now we are provided with enough proof that there is collective responsibility," Prakash said with unconcealed sarcasm. He even found it hard to suppress a sneer. His remarks came a day after Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph said he was not aware that the KSEB chairman and Power Secretary had met the CM and advised him to call off the GNA power purchase deal. "I came to know of it only through the media," the Electricity Minister said on November 9. "The CM is above a minister and a minister's job is to give his opinion," he added. The displeasure was evident.

What the Electricity Minister implied was that his opinion was disrespected by the CM. It was widely reported that former KSEB chairman M G Rajamanickam and the minister preferred to purchase power from Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board. The CM, however, opted for power from General Access Network (GNA), an 'over the counter' platform for power purchase. Eventually, on November 9, the Chief Minister decided to scrap the GNA deal, too.

It was this perceived mutual suspicion at the top level that Adoor Prakash has now exploited to hit out at the CM. The UDF convenor is considered a close ally of AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, who was edged out by Satheesan in the CM's race.

Adoor Prakash's October 1 tirade was meant to rouse the supposedly dominant K C Venugopal group within the Congress power structure. Satheesan doused this uprising with a series of politically spectacular moves: KIIFB's funeral, the country's first law for senior citizens and decimation of the LDF in the Assembly. Group equations fail to work in moments of collective triumph.

Now, with the clamour for a new KPCC president growing, it is time for the 'K C Group' to make its presence felt. And for this, even minor disaffection with the functioning of the CM should be spread and made to function like a strong viral infection. More Congress leaders should squirm under the bite of the anti-Satheesan bug.

The 'Venugopal group' wants Revenue Minister A P Anil Kumar, now a working president, to become the president. Satheesan is strongly opposed to a KPCC president who, he is certain, will sacrifice sleep to torpedo his vision.

Adoor Prakash's sarcasm is just the beginning. It has to catch on with ministers and other top leaders for the K C Group to successfully place its man on the KPCC throne, as a strong counterweight to the CM.

Top Congress sources said Excise Minister M Liju and Tourism and Culture Minister P C Vishnunath, once known as staunch K C loyalists, will not do anything that would destabilise the existing balance. Moreover, the Muslim League is firmly on the CM's side.