The Hindu : Kerala News : Antony faction closes ranks on leadership issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 11, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Antony faction closes ranks on leadership issue

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 10. The Antony faction today sank all differences to block any possible move for a leadership change, but made a fervent appeal for holding organisational elections and the revamp of the Congress Ministers in the Antony Cabinet so as to give it a new look.

At the end of the day, a near unanimity appeared to have emerged as far as the leadership issue was concerned, with all factions, barring the Fourth Group, throwing their weight behind Mr. Antony.

The Antony faction leaders, who met this morning to formulate their strategies to be presented before the two-member AICC delegation comprising Margaret Alva and R L Bhatia, is understood to have presented a set of suggestions for the revamp of the party and the Government functioning. According to informed sources, the leaders took the view that a leadership change was not warranted, as the Chief Minister alone could not be held responsible for the election debacle. However, they wanted the high command to consider a total reshuffle and the induction of an entirely new team of Congress ministers.

The leaders, who met the AICC delegation separately, said that the Antony Government could claim credit for several policy initiatives, such as the decision relating to the setting up of self-financing institutions, but these had appealed only to a section of the people, particularly the higher income groups. They wanted an economic reforms package that would target at the middle-class and the poorer sections of the population. The economic reforms package should concentrate on agriculture development, besides nursing the traditional industrial sectors, including cashew and coir, back to health.

Some of the Antony faction leaders stressed on the need for a change in the style of functioning so that the Congress-led Government could be brought closer to the people. They pointed out to the latent dissatisfaction among the party workers and their sense of alienation from the Government. There should be concrete steps to bring in an attitudinal change to ensure participation of the party workers.

As far as the organisational aspects were concerned, the faction felt that the prevailing situation in the party presented the most opportune moment for conducting organisational elections. The revamp should start from the booth level upwards. The Antony faction leaders felt that the organisational elections could not be delayed any further. The faction leaders informed the delegation members that urgent steps need to be taken to appoint an ad hoc committee to launch the preliminary work for the organisational elections considering the fact that the panchayat election was around the corner and a lot of work related to delimitation and renewal of voters' list were due. The high command should ensure that party discipline is strictly enforced given the fact that the current set of problems the Congress was facing could be traced to the frequent violation of discipline by senior leaders, including those holding important positions.

The stray demand for leadership change was confined to P.C. Chacko and a few others, including Rajmohan Unnithan. The Forest Minister, K. Sudhakaran, who belongs to the Fourth Group, opposed a leadership change. He said that the views presented by the KPCC general secretary, Ajay Tharayil, at another fourth group meeting, were his personal opinions.

Mr. Chacko said that Mr. Antony's refusal to quit in the light of the election debacle would seriously harm the prospects of the Congress.

Among those who met the delegation members included the Speaker, Vakkom Purushothaman, the UDF convener, Oommen Chandy, the Ministers, G. Karthikeyan, K.V. Thomas and K. Sudhakaran, Aryadan Mohammed, Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan and several other MLAs.

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