Wednesday, Aug 25, 2004
Wednesday, Aug 25, 2004 |
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By Our Staff Reporter
KOTTAYAM, AUG. 24. The Kerala Congress(M) in particular and the United Democratic Front (UDF) in general registered a major strategic victory in the Pala municipal council today when a compromise candidate belonging to the KC(M) was elected chairman in a direct contest with the Left Democratic Front (LDF). It was only a few weeks ago that the then chairman, a KC(M) nominee, was forced to step down following a mini-rebellion in the UDF. The senior leadership of the Congress and the Kerala Congress cobbled together the victory plot by presenting Betty Shaji, who was among the three KC(M) rebels, as the compromise candidate and forcing the lone Congress representative who had taken up cudgels against the KC(M) leadership to gave in to the persuasive powers of the UDF convener, Oommen Chandy. In the 20-member council, Ms. Shaji got all the 11 UDF votes while the LDF candidate and Opposition leader, George C. Kappan, had to content with the nine votes they already had in their kitty.
Murky developments
The murky political developments commenced with the defeat of the UDF candidate, Jose K. Mani, in Muvattupuzha in the last Parliament elections. The KC(M) had always believed that the local Congressmen had a hand in the defeat and in a systematic way they had launched a drive to strip the elected Congress representatives to the local bodies of their posts. The prominent among them was the vice-chairman of Pala municipality. He was forced to step down through a non-confidence motion supported by the Opposition LDF and some of the KC(M) members. On account of the peculiar political equilibrium in the council, the Congress representative, K.R. Muraleedharan, succeeded in turning the tables on the KC(M) when he engineered a mini-rebellion in the KC(M) which forced A.C. Joseph, the KC(M) chairman and a close relative of the party leader, K.M. Mani, out of the chair. The adamant anti-KC(M) stance taken by the Congress representative had created a volatile situation and it appears that the intervention of Mr. Chandy had gone a long way in sorting out the situation without hurting any of the UDF constituents.
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