Game of political one-upmanship
The octogenarian leader K Karunakaran whose penchant for brinkmanship is quite well known, is once again at it. For a major part of the past three decades, Congress politics in the state has revolved around the clash between Karunakaran and Antony. But this time Karunakaran, who always comes up with a daily dose of slights and scorns on Antony, is on for a full-blown confrontation against the party high command.

Internal bickering has intensified in the state unit of Congress (I) with Mr K pushing his faction further towards an all-out confrontation with the Congress high command by getting his close aide Kodoth Govindan Nair to file his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections. The developments this time around hints that there could be a restructuring of forces within the party in the long term.

The present crisis was triggered off when the Congress high command nominated party general secretary Vayalar Ravi and former state Congress president Thennala Balakrishna Pillai as its candidates without consulting Karunakaran. Run down by Karunakaran's 'trouble-making', Madame Sonia has obviously sent the message to Karunakaran to 'hold his tongue and leave the scene'.

Miffed at the entire political play, Karunakaran's son KPCC president K Muraleedharan, who is no longer a political novice, has put in his papers. Muraleedharan might have found some logic in his decision to resign as the same person who was unceremoniously shown the door, while in the same post to make way for him is being bestowed another post. While father Karunakaran is angry over the Rajya Sabha nominees of the party, son Muraleedharan is peeved at the fact that his nominee, P C Chacko was not considered and he was kept in dark about Thennala's nomination till the last minute. Muraleedharan has a sneaking suspicion that Antony is behind the whole drama.

Muraleedharan's disenchantment with the Congress high command and the Chief Minister A K Antony had added vigour to the campaign of the 'I' group against the Antony government in the state. Karunakaran drew considerable energy from his son Muraleedharan's statement that his attempts to function above factional considerations has proved to be futile and that both his and his father's views have been rendered worthless.

A section of media has suggested that the crisis over the Rajya Sabha elections is yet another keen political game Mr K is engineering, which was aimed at finding a cabinet berth for his daughter. Though the report came as an embarrassment for Karunakaran who rebuffed the allegations, a possibility of such an endeavor cannot be ruled out. After nurturing his son Muraleedharan's political career, whose entry displeased the applecart for many members in the `I' group, Mr K has been trying hard to promote Padmaja, the same way as he had groomed his son for over two decades.

The whole showdown can only be viewed as a political power struggle. As far as Karunakaran is concerned, there is no question of climbing down and is not looking forward to any compromise formula. For Mr K, the bicker has come as an opportunity to establish his clout. Withdrawing his candidate would indeed be a setback and it is quite evident that he would not accept this way out. The main is that Mr K is that he is still reluctant to accept the reality that his innings for chiefministership is over forever.

"Even Madame Sonia has given you enough indications. So what is the use of hanging around when your voices remain unheard, leader?"