Karunakaran may just have the last laugh in Kerala

Ajayan

CONGRESS veteran K Karunakaran has had his way in the party’s final list of candidates for the ensuing Assembly elections. The rebellion he raised over the denial of a seat to his daughter now only appears to be a facade for proving his towering presence in a faction-ridden party in Kerala. Three of the candidates of the faction led by Opposition leader AK Antony have been asked to withdraw in favour of candidates proposed by Mr Karunakaran.

When Congress leaders went with the list to get the party high command’s nod, the issue of a seat for Mr Karunakaran’s daughter appeared to be a bone of contention among the four rival factions in the Congress. Three groups, one led by Opposition leader AK Antony, another by former Youth Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala and the other by former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leader Vayalar Ravi, had trained their guns on Mr Karunakaran and his son Muraleedharan. When Mr Karunakaran realised that things were not going his way, he quit the post of special invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

A jubilant Mr Antony returned with a list of 88 Congress candidates in which the faction led by Mr Karunakaran did not have a majority. This further provoked Mr Karunakaran who made it clear that if some of his group’s leaders and workers were hurt and worked against the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Congress, he could not be held responsible. To pacify Mr Karunakaran, the central party leadership decided to send in Ambika Soni. However, word was sent to the high command in Delhi that she was not a leader worthy of talking to such a senior leader. The leadership then flew in Ghulam Nabi Azad and Motilal Vora.

Subsequently, these two leaders held discussions with the rival faction leaders and after consultations with party president Sonia Gandhi announced that three seats would be given to the Karunakaran faction. With this the Karunakaran and Antony factions have 37 seats each, the Chennithala faction has nine and the Vayalar Ravi faction five.

But Mr Karunakaran has publicly announced that the truce now in the party is only temporary. Much wrong has been done to him and factionalism will resurface after the elections.

It is now the turn of Mr Antony to feel hurt. He has described the high command’s decision as ‘painful’. The ‘A’ group, which has to withdraw three of its candidates who had gone ahead with the campaign, is now all set to start a rebellion.

Groupism in the Congress is nothing new. There has been mud-slinging in public even earlier. But like all other times, Mr Karunakaran has emerged victorious. The talk of ‘correcting the wrong’ done to him this time can be traced to when he had to bow out of office the first time just after the declaration of Emergency, by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, when the high court made some remarks against him. When the Congress decided to back Indira Gandhi at the Chikamaglur by-election, Mr Antony, who had replaced Mr Karunakaran as chief minister, resigned in protest. The Congress split in Kerala and the party led by Mr Antony joined the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). After the elections, they joined the LDF government. But the government had a short life. After over two years, the party led by Mr Antony pulled out and merged with the Congress where Mr Karunakaran continued to have the say.

But in the 1991 elections, the UDF romped home on the sympathy wave created by the death of Rajiv Gandhi and Mr Karunakaran became the natural choice for chief ministership. But a serious accident left Mr Karunakaran bed-ridden. Even while he was abroad for treatment, he controlled things from there. But things did not go well for him and following a barrage of charges against him, he had to bow out of office and was replaced by Mr Antony for the rest of the term. That was the time when factionalism in the Congress reached a peak.

This appears to be at the back of Mr Karunakaran’s mind when he says that wrong has been done to him. He, therefore, wanted to ensure that when the candidate list was finalised, his group would have a majority so that when the legislature party met, things would go the way he wanted them to. Some party leaders sympathetic to him say he has to get the term he was denied through default by the Antony faction.

All this washing of dirty linen in public by the Congress may take a toll on the UDF’s prospects. But Congress leaders admit that factionalism is nothing new and the rule or rather ‘misrule’ of the LDF should make the UDF come back to power. Even Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders admit in private that the UDF has better prospects. The LDF is now hoping to cash in on the feud within the Congress. The incumbency factor weighs much against the LDF where the CPI(M) has played quite carefully by retaining just one minister.

It remains to be seen how far ripples caused by the rebellion in the Congress will go. If the Congress can put up a united front, at least for the time being, then, as Mr Karunakaran says, the UDF would stand a better chance. All in all, if the Karunakaran faction succeeds in defeating a few of the Antony group leaders and maintain a majority in the legislature party, Mr Karunakaran will surely have the last laugh.