Kerala - Kottayam   

George forestalled a major coup?

George Jacob

Unceremoniously dumping Kerala Congress(S) chairman Eapen Varghese

P.C. GEORGE: A pre-emptive strike.

KOTTAYAM: By unceremoniously dumping its chairman Eapen Varghese, the Kerala Congress(S) and its beleaguered legislature party leader P.C. George appear to have saved the outfit from a major crisis, for the present. The action from the leader of the LDF constituent is viewed in the political circles as a pre-emptive strike against the brewing discontent among a section of the party members who were plotting a major coup against Mr. George and his political line.

Ever since the LDF constituent and rival, the Kerala Congress(Joseph) rolled out its strategy of acquisitions and mergers to emerge as a strategically crucial participant in the LDF, the KC(S) was in difficulty. The success of the KC(J) in exploiting the confusions in the various Kerala Congress factions to their advantage had only added to the KC(S) woes. The final straw appears to be the success of the KC(J) in roping in the IFDP into their fold before the just concluded panchayat elections. They also succeeded in making a case for their strategy on the basis of the unprecedented victory for the Left combine in their strongholds.

That the KC(J) was making strategic moves for a major strike against their rivals within the LDF fold was in the air for some time. The KC(J) line of regrouping of all Kerala Congressmen had been a successful strategy so far, and it was rumoured that a section of the senior leadership of the KC(S) too was seriously thinking of rejoining their parent party, the Kerala Congress(Joseph), and in fact leading list of leaders who were toying with the line was the party chairman Eapen Varghese himself.

The party chairman himself rejoining the parent party would have put Mr. George in a fix (in fact, this was one strategy he had played against Mr. Joseph during his split with the parent party). Under such a situation, Mr. George would have been forced to join the ranks of other minor constituents who were shown the door under similar situation by the LDF leadership. It was against this backdrop that the party leader Mr. George took the extreme step of dumping the party chairman himself, it is pointed out.

While Mr. George can surely heave a sigh of relief for the time being, irritants still remain in the smooth functioning of his party, it is pointed out. For one thing, the timing of the ouster may not go unnoticed by the a section of the CPI(M) leadership: Mr. Varghese had held detailed discussions with the CPI(M) leadership just a day before his ouster and the disciplinary action could be dubbed as a snub against those CPI(M) leaders who had entertained Mr. Varghese.

Secondly, Mr. Varghese still has his own men working for him within the KC(S) fold. In other words, the present action could be beginning of more serious developments in the party in the coming days, but not before the conclusion of the Thiruvananthapuram byelection, it is pointed out.

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George forestalled a major coup?

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