Kerala: A House Divided

No one had expected a smooth ride for Kerala's Chief Minister Oommen Chandy when he assumed office in May last year, after his Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) coalition unseated the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), securing a slender majority of 72 MLAs in the 140-member state assembly.

The 68-year-old hard-working politician has now successfully completed one year in office, despite rampant scepticism about the state government's longevity given the thin margin. Within this time, he has been able to resolve a number of ongoing agitations, re-launched some old schemes that had been shelved and launched 100 days programmes and one-year plans which met with success. However, despite the good work done, these days he is facing a barrage of problems – not from the opposition, but from his own party colleagues.

His latest woes emanated from the state government's move to regularise paddy fields and Chandy's decision to allocate a fifth Cabinet berth to ruling front partner Indian Union Muslim League.

In fact, some senior Congress leaders like VM Sudheeran, a former speaker and ex-minister, are so unhappy that they have openly spoken out against the government. He has attacked another decision of the government that allowed regularisation of conversion of water bodies and paddy fields. “It is abundantly clear that the influence of land mafia is very much in the decision," he said.

Another Congress MLA, TN Prathapan, has also opposed the move, saying “nobody could support the conversion of paddy fields into land”.

To compound his troubles, some ministers have now started complaining about the chief minister's style of functioning in private. “We in Congress are supposed to represent the Muslim community, but our role is to nullify by the upper hand of IUML in the government,” a close aide of Chandy said on the condition of anonymity. Also most of the crucial decisions are taken by the CM without the consultation of any party forums, he said.

But the real question is whether Chandy is going to amend his way of functioning? Says political observer BRP Bhaskar, “Like VS Achuthanandan in CPM, Sudheeran in Congress is in a situation where he feels the need to speak out on some things. Just as Achutanandan's statements will not persuade Pinarayi to change his ways, Sudheeran's criticism will not persuade Chandy to alter his course."

According to a senior journalist K Kunhikkannan, the efforts of Sudheeran will be nothing more than a storm in a teacup. "The critics of Chandy will remain as insignificant as dead leaves, as long as he enjoys the good graces of Sonia Gandhi and AK Antony,” says he.

Confident in this belief, Chandy fights on, unaffected by the dissenting voices.