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STATES: KERALA
St Antony's Image Crisis
Mr Clean has a problem larger than Karunakaran—he
will have a tough time defending the tainted track record of some members
of his new Cabinet
By M.G. Radhakrishnan
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TROUBLE AHEAD: Compulsions
of coalition politics may dim Antony's moral sheen |
The lunch at Vaisakh, Congress leader
K. Karunakaran's residence in Thiruvananthapuram, was in tune with the
culinary times of modern Kerala: Chinese fried rice, Malabar chicken curry
and the special seafood delicacy neimeen. It was the day before the swearing-in
ceremony, and the mood was upbeat: a massive mandate for the United Democratic
Front's (UDF), and the new-found brotherhood within the Congress. The
chief guests were AICC envoys Ghulam Nabi Azad and Motilal Vora. Karunakaran,
his son and Lok Sabha member K. Muralidharan, and daughter and political
wannabe K. Padmaja were good hosts. Then it happened. Azad started coughing
and gasping for breath with his welled-up eyes bulging out. A nasty little
bone of the neimeen had got stuck in his throat. After a few minutes of
intense struggle, Azad succeeded in overcoming this unexpected fishy problem.
Was there some kind of political symbolism in
the fish bone? The unanimous selection of A.K. Antony as the Congress
Legislature Party leader and subsequently as chief minister was smooth
once Karunakaran had withdrawn all objections. The precondition for peace
he had laid before AICC President Sonia Gandhi was this: His son Muralidharan,
42, would have to be the new KPCC president. Karunakaran had also insisted
that Azad himself should announce the new president's name immediately
after the swearing-in. Everything went off as Karunakaran wanted as Indira
Bhavan, the KPCC headquarters, witnessed Muralidharan's elevation as state
president barely an hour after the ceremonies at the Raj Bhavan.
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Karunakaran's son is the new PCC chief, but he is supposed to be
A closet friend of his father's Enemy.
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There was hardly anyone to care for the feelings
of Thennala Balakrishna Pillai, 74, the venerable Congress leader who
was forced to relinquish the post of KPCC president he had held for the
past three years on the day the party he led assumed power following a
historic victory. Also, AICC Secretary Ramesh Chennithala, MP, has formally
complained. "How can a relatively young and inexperienced person
like him (Muralidharan) hold the post overlooking other senior and eminent
leaders?" asked the Chennithala-led Thiruthalvaadi (Correctionists)
group in a formal letter to Sonia Gandhi.
Now the question is: Will Muralidharan be to
Antony what that nasty fishbone has been to Azad? Is it the beginning
of a new conflict between the Government (Antony) and the party (Muralidharan)?
For, going by conventional wisdom, Karunakaran can use his son to make
Antony's life miserable. However, that may not be the case. Surprisingly,
Muralidharan is Antony's most trusted man in the Karunakaran faction today.
Muralidharan knows age is not on his father's side and it is politically
foolish to antagonise Antony who has the full backing of Sonia.
Many party insiders even believe Muralidharan
had played a major role in Delhi to thwart his sister Padmaja's hopes.
Padmaja's request to contest the assembly election was not backed by Antony
and, hence, rejected by Sonia Gandhi. This triggered a revolt by Karunakaran
on the eve of the polls. Congress sources say that Muralidharan does not
want another power centre to emerge in the faction which he would rather
inherit fully after his father's time.
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