Tussle over CM lays bare fault lines in Congress

To turn a resounding win into a politically crippling situation takes an enormous degree of self-defeating prowess. The Congress has just managed to reverse a groundswell of goodwill it galvanised in the just-concluded elections, with its central leadership displaying an uncanny inability to decide on the chief ministerial post, embarrassing itself and causing a rift with its most critical ally, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).  

‘Team UDF’ was the buzzword during electioneering, when the Congress and the other constituents of the United Democratic Front managed to present a facade of unity. Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan particularly harped on the alliance being led by a team during its win in the local body polls last December and while campaigning for the Assembly elections. Differences surfaced during the month-long wait for the results, from which point the claims for the top post became deafeningly louder, much to the dismay of the allies.

Understandably, the Congress high command does not want to force its choice upon the State leadership in the same manner in which it deposed Ramesh Chennithala as Leader of the Opposition in the wake of the 2021 Assembly election defeat. But the horse had bolted before the high command locked the stable door.

The party’s central leadership should have anticipated the present scenario, more so with the All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of the organisation being in contention, and acted pre-emptively by laying out its criteria for the chief ministerial choice. Alternatively, it could have simply asked the MLAs-elect to choose their leader. That it had asked sitting MPs not to contest and is now considering a sitting MP as a contender for the post smacks of a serious lack of vision, which has led to the present mess.

Several senior Congress leaders and ordinary workers feel let down by the party’s insouciance. The IUML, which spearheaded the UDF campaign successfully in many constituencies, has reason to be annoyed. The crisis has laid bare the fault lines within the coalition and eclipsed the journey ahead.

The self-aggrandising behaviour of Congress leaders guided by factionalism has plunged the party into a soup in the past, leading to a change of guard in 1995 and an uneasy Cabinet reshuffle in 2014, among others. However, over the past few years, a resurgent Congress in Kerala prided itself on putting the ghosts of factionalism behind it, thanks to the decade-long political wilderness.

But it appears the party has learnt nothing from it. Even if the Congress central leadership comes up with a magic fix now, the train has already left the station. Enough fodder has been provided over the past week for the daggers to be unsheathed, and it’s unlikely that they will rest without drawing blood.

Public memory may be short, but that of the Internet, replete with memes and trolls about the goings-on over the past week, is not. Only the Congress can manage to plunge itself into a crisis following a stupendous win and make it look like a defeat, as a party veteran put it.