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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Kerala
By Girish Menon
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 22. The Scheduled Castes and Tribes Welfare and Cultural Affairs Minister, A. P. Anil Kumar's resignation has served to expose the disquiet in the faction ridden-Congress. The context of his resignation is as important as the contents of the explanatory note he wrote to the Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy. Mr. Anil Kumar chose to put in his papers at a time when Mr. Chandy is on a confrontationist course with the Karunakaran faction and the Congress Working Committee member, A. K. Antony has been cautioning the official faction on taking extreme steps.
`Against conscience'
Mr. Anil Kumar has also made it very clear that he found it difficult to accept Mr. Chandy's current moves in the backdrop of the Congress High Command's attempts to bring about a consensus. Upholding Mr. Antony's declared positions on the current factional fight, Mr. Anil Kumar said in his intelligently drafted note that he could not go with opinions that went against his conscience just for the sake of power and pelf. He was all for unity and discipline in the party and that he earnestly believed that all sections should be prepared to make sacrifices. It was the duty of those who love the Congress to support all the attempts of the party High Command in this regard, he said. His statement that as Chief Minister, the onus was on Mr. Chandy to take the initiative to carry along party workers and leaders irrespective of their divergent perceptions appears to be an indictment, though the Chief Minister termed the note as positive. Significantly, Mr. Anil Kumar, who has been Mr. Karunakaran's camp follower, did not make any statement either in the note or at the press conference supporting Mr. Karunakaran. There is considerable pressure on Mr. Anil Kumar to withdraw his resignation. Irrespective of his future course of action, he has already made a political statement about the growing unease among party workers over the gathering storm clouds in the party. It also brings out the helplessness leaders like him, who have taken clean positions, are facing when two factions are inching towards the cliff edge. Even though he did not mention it in his resignation letter, Mr. Anil Kumar seems to have been peeved by the MLAs' criticism in the Congress Legislature Party meeting and the alleged threat issued by a senior Minister in the Chandy Cabinet.
Groups within groups
The resignation also indicates the new twists and turns in Congress factionalism. The traditional tussle between two factions seems to have given way to groups within groups, complicating matters further. Problems of power sharing in the Karunakaran faction gave quite a few headaches to Mr. Antony during a major part of his tenure as Chief Minister. Even though this is now dormant in the Karunakaran faction, the problem has raised its head in the Antony faction, with Mr. Chandy openly expressing his differences with his mentor. Mr. Chandy has apparently disregarded the temporary setback that Mr. Anil Kumar's resignation has given to him by pushing for another round of disciplinary action against erring MLAs who participated in the Kochi rally. As matters stand today, it would not be easy for the party high command to take a fair decision in this situation without hurting either of the faction leaders.
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