Did Congress prescribe the right medicine for its Kerala units ailment?
The revamp of Congress Kerala unit leadership, which came close on the heels of the setback faced by the grand old party in the recent Assembly election, was meant to be a strong message from the party high command against the factionalism in the party's state unit. But in political circles, the question that is doing the rounds is whether the revamp is helping revive the Congress or is the party unit on its way to becoming more fractious, with new power centres adding to the problem of groupism. Kerala, the Congress central leadership is well aware, is one of the few states in which the party is still a contender for power, although in the April poll this year, it lost a second consecutive election for the first time in decades. And this despite the party having 15 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the states under its belt. Factionalism has been the Congress bugbear in Kerala for decades. Indeed, the current prominent groups led by former chief minister Oommen Chandy and former leader of the opposition Ramesh Chennithala are descendants of groups that were led by former chief ministers A K Antony and K Karunakaran. Over the years, the partys national leadership has made attempts to rid the state unit of factionalism, but in vain. In 2014, it appointed V M Sudheeran to succeed Chennithala as state party president. Sudheeran was seen as belonging to no camp and was therefore expected to pull along all groups and leaders. In 2018, it appointed Mullappally Ramachandran to the post for the same reason. Instead of the party pulling together under their leadership, however, the factional leaders saw their appointments as an embarrassment to themselves. Groupism only intensified. In the run up to the April elections, the groups once again fell out over ticket allotment, with each side vying for tickets for their own loyalists. This resulted in the formation of jumbo committees of 12 vice presidents, 42 general secretaries and around 100 secretaries for the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee. Not without reason is the Congress often mocked as a party with more leaders than workers. When the party lost the polls, its national leadership made the same diagnosis of the state units illness and prescribed the same medicine for its cure: Appoint a leader who is not with any of the factions in the hope that s/he will remain neutral and thus be able to pull along all sides. K Sudhakaran was appointed the new Kerala PCC president and V D Satheesan the new leader of opposition in the Assembly. They have been tasked with reviving the party following two consecutive Assembly poll losses. Satheesan and Sudhakaran have made the proforma statement  that they will take all leaders along. This is a challenging task, as they have started to find out. As in the past, the existing camps have felt hurt by the high command's decision to change the state leadership without taking them into confidence. They continue to further factionalism and it's already evident. Recently, after an official Congress delegation visited a place where trees were felled illegally, Chennithala made a separate visit, saying that the others had ditched him. Congress insiders say that new groups could be formed in the party, whose organisational structure continues to be weak, as a new set of party workers are eager to become leaders. While the factional leaders have all welcomed the appointment of Sudhakaran and Satheesan in public, the two are not seen to have grown into leadership positions but are seen as having been thrust on the factions by the party high command without taking them into confidence, says veteran journalist and political commentator Jacob George, adding that the resentment over this is evident. A senior Congress leader and former Kerala minister told DH on condition of anonymity that the central leaderships diagnosis of the problem is way off the mark, and so its solution for it, too. It was not the groupism in the party that was affecting the party adversely but orchestrated social media campaigns that were having undue influence on the high commands decision-making, he said. He was referring to the recent social media campaigns calling for a leadership change in favour of Sudhakaran and Satheesan. Prescribing medicines without properly diagnosing a disease will only worsen the patients condition, he warned, adding that the Congress had in the past won elections with comfortable majorities even when it was riven with severe factionalism. The Congress lost the April elections not due to groupism but due to other factors. While the pandemic affected the political activities of opposition parties in reaching out to voters, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had turned it into an opportunity to reach out to the people through his daily press conferences. Social and communal equations, too, helped the Left front retain power," he said. Satheesan, a five-time legislator, is seen to have performed well as leader of opposition during the just-concluded session of the Assembly. Sudhakaran, known for his plain-speaking, had fought the CPM in its citadel, Kannur, and also duelled with the Chief Minister, defending his party in the matter of its internal feuds. But a section of party leaders is sceptical about his ability to perform as state unit president. Sudhakaran could give energy to the party through his oratory, George said, adding that no one would benefit by raising concern over Sudhakarans abilities either. What the party needs is to strengthen itself from the grassroots. Political observers are keen to see if the new leaders move to dissolve the jumbo committees and revamp the partys organisational structure or let things be, and whether perceived merit will count in appointments or will loyalty trump it.