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The after-shocks of the Assembly election defeat continue to create fissures within the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
The top body of the Kerala Congress (Mani), the third-largest party in the UDF, has called for an exit from the coalition in protest against the ‘back-stabbing’ by the Congress.
At a lengthy meeting of the KC(M) Steering Committee on Saturday, most members of the party demanded a pull-out from the UDF. The committee had reportedly suggested that the party’s MLAs sit as a separate bloc in the Assembly, after delinking itself from the UDF. However, at a news conference held on Sunday, party chief KM Mani ruled out any severing of ties with the UDF, saying the issue was not on the agenda now. The KC(M) had a lot of patience; it also was mature and noble, he said.
The KC(M) has been highly critical of the Congress ever since the May 16 election unseated the UDF. It blamed the Congress for the electoral debacle and accused the latter of having plotted to damage it. The biggest grouse of the KC(M) was that it had not defended Mani enough when the bar bribery scandal broke out. Mani, who was Finance Minister and No 2 in the erstwhile Oommen Chandy government, had been accused of taking bribes from liquor bar owners for torpedoing Chandy’s liquor policy. Following the Opposition onslaught and pressure from many Congress leaders, Mani had resigned.
This was a big setback for the KC(M), which alleged that the scandal was the result of a conspiracy between certain Congress leaders and a liquor baron, Biju Ramesh. KC(M) leaders believe the scandal was the Congress’ revenge for Mani’s reported move to leave the UDF and cross over to the then Opposition, the Left Democratic Front, two years ago. There had been strong rumours that the CPI(M) had offered to make Mani the Chief Minister if he and his party ditched the Chandy government. Ever since, the KC(M)’s cohabitation with the Congress has not been the same. Just ahead of the Assembly election campaign, the BJP too had tried to woo the KC(M), but the latter rebuffed the offer.
Now that the party is out of power, and its leader facing a Vigilance investigation into the bribery scam, the KC(M)’s leaving the UDF does not seem to be an immediate option.
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