The Hindu : Kerala News : Congress has hijacked UDF: Balakrishna Pillai

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Congress has hijacked UDF: Balakrishna Pillai

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPT. 7. The former Transport Minister, R. Balakrishna Pillai, today said that, with the formation of a new council of Ministers under Oommen Chandy, the Congress had done a successful job of hijacking the entire United Democratic Front (UDF) coalition.

At a press conference after a meeting of his party's leaders here, he said it was the first time in the history of coalition politics in the State that a constituent party was unilaterally imposing its will on the other coalition partners. Mr. Balakrishna Pillai was reacting to his exclusion from the Chandy Ministry.

Kept in the dark

He said his party, the Kerala Congress (B), was still a member of the UDF and would continue to be so. But, the party was kept in the dark about all the recent developments (connected to the Ministry formation). The Chief Minister, Mr. Chandy's statements to the contrary were incorrect, he said.

His exclusion from the Ministry was not discussed in the UDF. He said the least he could say about the decision was that it was morally improper.

Not even the Congress observers from New Delhi, who were in the State prior to the formation of the new Ministry, had given him any hint about what the Congress's intentions were. The only question they asked was, who, according to the perception of the Kerala Congress (B), should be the next Chief Minister. Mr. Balakrishna Pillai said he had told the observers that it was up to the Congress legislative party to select a new leader to head the Government.

Would stay in UDF

He said his party would not walk out of the UDF, because this coalition had come into being through his and the senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran's efforts.

Mr. Balakrishna Pillai refuted the allegation that he had pulled the carpet from under the feet of the Congress candidate, Kodikunnil Suresh, in the Adoor constituency in the recent Lok Sabha elections. He had informed the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as well as the then Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, why he would not be supporting the candidature of Mr. Suresh.

The Congress candidates had fared badly in these Lok Sabha elections in Cherthala and Puthuppally Assembly segments, from where Mr. Antony and Mr. Chandy had emerged victors in the last Assembly elections.

In Kottarakkara (Mr. Balakrishna Pillai's constituency), the performance of the Congress candidate this time was better, when compared with that shown by the party's candidates in Cherthala and Puthuppally segments, he added.

Allegation

He alleged that some of the Ministers in the Chandy Cabinet had actively involved in the efforts to sabotage the cause of the UDF in the elections. "Three persons who had voted for Kodoth Govindan Nair (the rebel Congress candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections) are in the Ministry now. Some others who had campaigned against the Congress candidate in the Lok Sabha byelection in Ernakulam last year are also in the Ministry," he alleged.

Humiliation

He said his party's representatives would continue to attend UDF meetings in future, but he would not. "It is not that I am keen on being a Minister. But, I cannot accept the humiliation (meted out to me)," he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala