Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 21 : The below-expectation results of recent Kerala civic body polls for the Congress-led UDF has again thrown up the leadership war in the opposition alliance, with at least two constituents rooting for former CM Oommen Chandy to be on the vanguard if it is to put up a good fight in the 2021 Assembly elections.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) was expecting a landslide win due to a number of alleged scams and scandals that have rocked the Pinarayi Vijayan government, including gold smuggling case.
On the contrary, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has been catapulted into a pole position ahead of the Assembly polls in April/May 2021 as the ruling Left Democratic Front managed to more or less hold on to the seats it won in 2015 civic polls.
If one were to see the past history of Assembly elections in Kerala, the incumbent government has never retained power ever since the first state elections.
And none had any doubt about the continuation of the trend until the final results of civic polls were out.
But now, even the Communist Party of India-Marxist feels that the LDF would be able to re-write the coastal state's political history by retaining power.
Vijayan now nurtures hope of leading the UDF to a historic win next year.
In the given scenario, all eyes are now on senior Congress man and Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala.
This is so because the Congress convention has been that the outgoing Leader of Opposition in the UDF gets the CM's post, which has been seen in the case of K Karunakaran, AK Antony and Oommen Chandy.
But much has changed for Chennithala after the civic body elections.
Already, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party have informally demanded that Chennithala should make way for Chandy if the UDF does not want to help LDF script a new political history.
Chandy, a two-time Chief Minister, has been lying low after losing to Vijayan in the 2016 Assembly polls.
But it was quite evident during his statewide campaigning in the civic body elections that none of the leaders of the three political fronts in Kerala can beat him in terms of attracting crowds of voters despite Covid restrictions.
Even in CPI-M stronghold of Kannur district, Chandy drew the biggest crowd, even comparable to what the CPI-M leaders could muster.
Chandy continues to be the most popular political personality in Kerala due to his affable manners, as contrasted to Left's Vijayan, whose 'rough and tough' demeanour is a point of debate among political circles in Kerala.
According to a top UDF source, ahead of last week's UDF meeting, IUML had first laid out a plan of action for the opposition front that if it was to bounce back, Chandy should be at the forefront, which was seconded by the RSP.
"The future of the state Congress and the UDF is now in Chennithala's hands.
Chandy is not the one who bulldozes through. He has come out of his shell and agreed to lead the UDF. But for that to happen, Chennithala should make the first move and hand over the baton to him. The million dollar question is -- will it happen?" said the top UDF leader.
On Saturday, AICC General Secretary incharge of Kerala, Tariq Anwar, will arrive here to meet all top state Congress leaders.
He will get the feedback on the situation and the next course of action by the Congress leadership could decide if the UDF sinks or swims to power in the coastal state.
--IANS
sg/tsb.
Source: IANS
