The Aryavarth Express
Agency (THIRUVANANTHAPURAM): The Murphy’s Law is operating in full cry in the case of the Congress party in Kerala. Nothing seems to be going right for the benighted party, which is struggling to get its act together, with the Lok Sabha elections just two months away.
The latest jolt to the Congress is the exit of Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of the late Congress patriarch K. Karunakaran from the party and subsequent joining the BJP. Not surprisingly, the saffron camp is jubilant over its prize catch. And understandably, the Congress is down in the dumps.
The defection of senior Congress leaders to the BJP, which began as a trickle, is threatening to acquire the proportions of a flood. Reports are rife that more Congress leaders from Kerala are ready to join the BJP before the parliamentary elections.
The ridiculous readiness of Congress leaders to hop over to the BJP bandwagon has justified the CPI(M)’s contention that the Congress cannot be depended upon in the fight against the BJP at the national level. What is the guarantee that the Congress leaders who win on party tickets, will not join the BJP, post-poll? This is the question posed by senior CPI(M) leaders in the State. And the grand old party has no answer to that pertinent query. No doubt, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) is all set to raise this issue as a major poll campaign.
The Congress is also in real danger of losing the support of the Muslim community, which accounts for 28 per cent of the state’s population. A big slice of the Muslim population is inexorably veering round to the view that the Congress simply does not have the stomach for a tough political battle against the saffron camp at the national level. The CPI(M) and the CPI rightly claim that they are the only parties which have not fallen for – and won’t in future either – blandishments of the BJP. This being the reality, there is a distinct possibility of the Muslims in Kerala making a massive beeline for the LDF in the parliamentary polls.
Padmaja’s defection to BJP, close on the heels of senior Congress leader A K Antony’s son, Anil Antony, vindicates the LDF’s stance that the threat to Kerala’s secular fabric is real. It is not as if only ordinary Congress leaders are ditching the party at this crucial juncture. It is an undeniable fact that both Anil and Padmaja are active political leaders and children of Congress stalwarts AK Antony and .Karunakaran. Padmaja exit may also force many a Congress leader who want to put up a fight against the BJP to cross over to the Left camp in the State.
Another development which has set the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the second most powerful constituent of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), is Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)(another partner in UDF) leader N K Premachandran’s luncheon with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It has further shaken the faith of the Muslims in the State in the Congress. The CPI(M) and the CPI think that the latest developments and the widening rift between the IUML and the Samastha, the largest body of Muslim clerics and scholars in Kerala, will benefit the LDF in a big way.
As if these internal problems are not enough, the Congress has suffered another setback ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has rejected its request to lift the restrictions clamped on its bank accounts by the I-T Department in connection with a tax dispute. The I-T Tribunal has also said No to the plea of senior advocate and Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha, to keep the order in abeyance for 10 days so that the party can move the High Court for relief. It may be mentioned that the main accounts of the party were frozen on February 16 consequent to an income tax demand of Rs 210 crore for assessment year 2018-19 and alleged discrepancies and delays in tax returns. The Congress has also accused the taxmen of arbitrarily withdrawing Rs 65 crore from its accounts in different banks. The case is set for final hearing in the month of April. In the meantime, the freeze on funds has put the party to great inconvenience and at a severe disadvantage in the election season.
Meanwhile, the Congress has released its first list of candidates for the parliamentary polls. Former party chief Rahul Gandhi will seek a second mandate from Wayanad constituency in Kerala for the second term. Senior party leaders Shashi Tharoor and K C Venugopal will contest from Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha respectively. The party has retained most of its MPs from Kerala. In a surprise move, however, K. Muralidharan has been shifted from Vadakara to Thrissur. And Shafi Parambil will contest from Vadakara instead of Palakkad. (IPA Service)
By P. Sreekumaran
