Elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly were carried out on April 9. EVMs are still in strong rooms. Counting is on May 4. But Congress ‘suffers from the menace of Chief Minister candidates’. Followers of three contenders are in the field with a bang. Followers of the Leader of the Opposition, V.D. Satheesan, are busy erecting huge flex boards portraying him as the next Chief Minister. Even though it does not use the terminology ‘Chief Minister’, it reads, ‘UDF Will Win … Vd Satheesan Will Lead’. (UDF means Congress-led United Democratic Front).
K. Sudhakaran, MP, veteran Congress leader, former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president and former minister, has already supported AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, arguing that Kerala needs “dynamic and energetic leadership”.
Political observers know that Sudhakaran is unhappy with both Ramesh Chennithala and LoP V.D. Satheesan.
Actually, he wanted to leave the Lok Sabha and come back to Keralam state politics. He tried his level best to contest the Assembly elections. But both Ramesh and Satheesan did not support his endeavours.
Since both leaders took a hard line, the Congress High Command did not permit any Lok Sabha member from the state to contest the Assembly.
After some time, Sudhakaran supported Chennithala. He described Chennithala as a seasoned leader with administrative experience and the most suitable candidate for the top post.
The supporters of K.C. Venugopal are not sitting idle. Recently, a book containing a collection of his speeches in the Kerala Assembly, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha was released. The book is titled “Alongside Truth: Struggles and Positions”. He enjoys the special qualification of getting elected to all these three Houses. He has also served as a minister both in the state and at the Centre.
Senior leader Ajay Tharayil put out a Facebook post in favour of Venugopal. He says, “Chief Minister should be someone who has risen through youth and student struggles.”
Meanwhile, the followers of the three leaders are engaged in fierce social media wars. Videos featuring the political trajectory of Ramesh Chennithala are in circulation. His podcast, Kerala Yathra, is also making the rounds. His actions during his stint as Home Minister are also being explained.
A documentary film showing the political life of K.C. Venugopal is being produced by film personalities. It starts from his political life during his student days.
In the meantime, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has issued a show-cause notice to A. Prajin Babu, the Thiruvananthapuram district General Secretary of the party, for publishing an unauthorised full-page advertorial highlighting Ramesh Chennithala in a prominent English morning daily.
KPCC made it clear that it violated party directives against public promotions of leadership candidates, with the party viewing the action as a serious breach of discipline amid internal discussions over the Chief Ministership.
These exercises are really interesting because none knows if UDF will emerge as the largest parliamentary group after the counting. The leaders are up in arms projecting their candidacy. But the people of Kerala are waiting with their fingers crossed. What they look for is an efficient and corruption-free government. They know that neither the Congress-led UDF nor the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) are confident enough to predict results, as the BJP-led NDA is likely to make inroads.
