Inner party conflicts dog UDF constituents

By Girish Menon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 3. The United Democratic Front leaders who had taken immense pride in wrapping the seat sharing talks among various constituents appear to have been caught napping, with several coalition partners being saddled with inner party strife over selection of candidates.

While the Congress party went through yet another traumatic, yet predictable exercise in candidate selection, inner party strife has come like a bolt from the blue for the Kerala Congress(M). Its hard bargain for more seats paid off, when it walked away with the Kaduthuruthy seat. Interestingly, the Kaduthuruthy seat is now giving headaches to Mr. K.M. Mani, who appeared poised and confident till yesterday.

Trouble in the KC(M) reared its head when a set of leaders put up resistance to Mr. Mani's attempt to induct his son, Mr. Jose K. Mani into the fray. The move was given up when Mr. Mani met with resistance. But matters did not end with that and Kaduthuruthy continued to be a contentious seat, with one of the claimants for tickets, Mr. P.M. Mathew raising the banner of revolt.

Mr. Mathew claimed that he had been promised the Kaduthuruthy seat, which he had unsuccessfully contested in 1996 as a nominee of the Kerala Congress(Jacob) when he crossed over to KC(M). The Kottayam district committee of the Kerala Congress(M) had also opposed the moves to give the Kaduthuruthy ticket to Mr. Stephen George. The KC(M) move to induct Mr. Roshi Augustine in Idukki has also met with resistance, with supporters of Joy Vettikuzhy coming out in the open against the decision.

The current inner party tussle over seats has been marked out by violence. The Kattapana and Kaduthuruthy offices of the KC(M) was destroyed by a section which opposed the party's decision. In earlier elections, the KC(M) had never faced such revolt and this time the banner has assumed a purely regional colour with the district leaders demanding a fair share in seat allocation.

However, Mr. Mani's moves, despite the resistance, displays certain craftiness. What is of note is that he had given two seats to the Knanaya denomination of Christians -- Ettumanoor (Thomas Chazhikadan) and Kaduthuruthy (Stephen George). This is for the first time that the KC(M) has been prepared to give two seats to the community, which is a major force in Kaduthuruthy, while Mr. Chazhikadan is seeking a re-election in Ettumanoor.

He kept several aspirants guessing till the last minute, which accounts for the strong regional colour to the current revolt. In Poonjar, he has chosen Mr. T.V. Abraham, who deserted the Kerala Congress(Joseph). Mr. Abraham, a former district council chairman, would take on Mr. P.C. George, senior leader of the Kerala Congress(Joseph).

The Kerala Congress(M) had been given 11 seats and according to the seat sharing pact, Mr. Mani is expected to field at least one independent. Going by the ticket distribution, the KC(M) is unlikely to field an independent.

In the Congress party also the rumblings of dissidence are being heard. There are reports that Mr. Sundaran Nadar, who won the Parassala seat in 1996 as a Congress rebel but later rejoined the parent party, would wear his rebel clothes if he were to be denied a seat this time as well.

The Congress workers in some of constituencies are not happy at the party's decision to give seats to UDF partners who do not even stand a chance. In constituencies like Karunagapally, Pandalam, Vamanapuram and Kilimanoor, party workers openly expressed their dissatisfaction. What has irked the party workers is the decision to give tickets to UDF partners which are in excess of their professed strength. "Had the Congress contested some of these seats, there was an outside chance of winning," according to party workers.

There seems to be a method in the IUML's candidate selection as well. All sitting MLAs, save one, have been given tickets, but of the nine fresh faces it has fielded, at least five are office- bearers of their respective districts. In short, the IUML has virtually abandoned its practice of importing leaders from other places. The party has chosen this step as part of its strategy to shore up is bases in districts outside the Malappuram orbit, besides cutting down chances of regional revolts. In the process, it got an opportunity to field new faces, though they are mostly fighting marginal constituencies.

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Section  : Southern States
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