Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 14 (IANS): The ongoing Kerala tour of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet has been generating controversies time and again and this time has left the Left ally Kerala Congress (Mani) fuming.
Kottayam Lok Sabha member belonging to the Kerala Congress (Mani) is the third biggest ally in LDF.
Chief Minister Vijayan is known for his tough demeanour and the way he has been running the government, his party and also the Left Democratic Front in the past nearly eight years. There has not been even a murmur of protest over his dominating style. But this appears to have been dented after a section of the KC(M) leaders became unhappy with the way the Kottayam Lok Sabha and chartered accountant-turned-politician, Thomas Chazhikadan came under attack from CM Vijayan.
When the Vijayan tour party reached Pala -- the home base of KC(M)'s late party founder K.M. Mani -- by virtue of being the local MP, Chazhikadan led the meeting. But, he was shocked when CM Vijayan attacked him, who said that Chazhikadan has no clue about the statewide trip.
Those who heard Vijayan’s public shaming of Chazhikadan were startled and many leaders of their party and other parties came out in support of Chazhikadan. They consoled the soft spoken MP, who was also a former party legislator.
Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said, "It’s deplorable the way Vijayan spoke about Chazhikadan who was just pointing out the rubber farmer’s plight and was airing people’s concerns.
“This is the height of intolerance...Vijayan doesn’t want anyone to say anything, instead all should hear what he says. This is in no way acceptable and that’s one of the reasons why we decided to boycott this statewide trip of Vijayan,” said Satheesan.
KC(M) was part of the Congress-led UDF during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the very next year they cooperated with the Left at the 2020 local body elections and thereafter became a full-fledged ally.
KC(M) was formed by K.M. Mani, who was a towering political personality and the mainstay of the Congress-led UDF. He passed away in 2019 and his son Jose K.Mani with a majority of the workers joined the Left.
A political analyst on condition of anonymity said it was common that allies of the CPI(M)-led Left and the Congress-led UDF keep changing their colours on and off.
“The KC(M) itself has this history of changing from one political front to another and each time they did it, it was a rousing welcome. Popular late socialist leader and media baron M.P. Veerendra Kumar is another one, whose party has travelled with both the Congress-led UDF and now they are in the Left camp. So with the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the stock of Vijayan at his lowest, none should be surprised if KC(M) returns to the UDF,” said the political analyst.
Incidentally when Chazhikadan won the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he and his party was an ally of the Congress and now after being publicly snubbed by CM Vijayan, his future seems to have come under a cloud.
With the Lok Sabha polls round the corner, it remains to be seen if the KC(M) will ask for a second Lok Sabha seat, apart from Kottayam.