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Karottu Vallakkalil Veettil Ummen Chandy, known to the people of Puthupally as Kunjukunju, was sworn in as the new cheif minister of Kerala. Ever the shadow of Shri.A.K.Antony he had an honour practivally thrust upon him, probably a consequence of the recently conncluded Lok Sabha elections.
Born on 31-Oct-1943 as the son of K.O.Chandy and Baby, he first entered politics during the scholl years through the Kerala Students Unon. He was president of the All Kerala Bala Jana Sakhyam. He also enjoyed top posts in KSU, Youth Congress and AICC.
The educational career which eventually led him to politics and to the top job in Kerala started in Kottayam. He completed Pre-degree from CMS college, Kottayam, BA from SB College, Changanassery and BL from Law College, Ernakulam.
The electoral debut of Shri.U.Chandy was in 1970 , when he defeated EM George of the CPM by a lead of over seven thousand votes in Puthupally. He has never looked back. Puthupally has belonged to Kunjukunju. 1977, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001. All the elections saw the son of KO Chandy win election after election from Puthupally.
His ministerial experience is in the 1997 minnsitry of K.Karunakaran and then the AK Antony minsitry as the Minister for Labour. is first tenure lasted till Oct-1978. Subequently he was the Home minister in the K.Karunakaran government from Dec-1981 till March 1982. In 1991 he was Finance minister in the K.Karunakaran ministry.
In 1980 the Congress saw the split inot the Congress(I) and the Congress(A) groups. He became the Legislative Party Leader. He remained outside the minstry following the elction of 1982., but became the UDF Convener. He resigned shortly after Vaalar Rvi, and in 1994 when Shri.M.A.Kuttappan was denied Rajya Sabha seat, Ummen Chandy opted out of the Karunakaran Ministry. That this eventually led to the resignation of Karunakaran himself is another story. Following the 2001 elections again Ummen Chandy was the UDF Convener
Wife: Mariamma, Canara Bank, Children: Maria, Achu. Son-in-law: Trivandrum Muthoot Rikki
Shri.AK Antony, the incumbent chief minister of Kerala, announced his willlingness to resgn from the high office today. The news apparently came as a shock to every one. The announcement folowed the short visit of the Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
News about a reshuffle of his cabinet has been doing the rounds for quite a while. Preessure from the coalition members has also been mounting. In a way it is only right that the top most man should show by example that reshuffle is not confined to the bottom. In a way, this announcement has all the signs of a pressure tactic.
In case the resignation does come through, how would this government of his be judged?
So what happens now? General elections? That is where the pressure tactic comes up ! This government is bound to lose and lose very badly in a general election if held now.
Much water has flown over the political landscape of Kerala even as the unprecedented monsoon rains have brought a tempoaray end to the power cut. The just conclded Lok Sabha elections has demoralized not just the BJP. The Congress in Kerala which was entirely wiped out, with zero seats, (a first in the history of the congress in Kerala). The two children of the venrable leader lost the elctions: as result one lost his place a KPCC President, a place whic has now been given back to Shri.Thennala Balakrishna Pilla, as well as his ministership. The congress also lost one of its MLAs reducing the current strength of the assembly to 139 and the UDF count to 98. The ormer chairpesron of the KTDC also lost her elections.
The Congress(I) faction appeared to be in disarray until the "High Command" as it is called reconstituted the KPCC in a manner calculated to irk practically every congress leader in the state, thanks to the total go-bye given to the various factions. Ommen Chandy carried this message to the High Command with no avail. This turn of events has rejuvenated the Congress factions with even the Congress(A) members showing signs of discomfort. But more of that later.
What we set out to discuss in this issue is the comlete round-house performed bby the chief minister followin the debacle in the elections. Now it is the police who were wrong to do as they did during the last threaa and a half years. So are the officials of various departments, wose corruption and lack of empathy with the public could be the reason. It could be the power cut. In fact, it could even be the monsoon. What is definitely not the reason is the performance of the government. The CM has to take any responsibility for the disaster that overtook the Congress in the last election. Nor has any constituent of the UDF acknowledeged that may be, just maybe it could have been they themselves who are to blame.
The current debt burden of the state has reached a whopping Rs.37,000 crores. When Shir. Antony took over it was less than Rs.25,000 crore. This huge climb in debt over a mere forty months has happened in spite of all the rhetoric o fhe CM when he just took over with a thumping majority of one hundred seats out of one hundred and forty. There was heroic talk about tightening the belt, (or dhothi) by every one except the politicians, the businessmen and the top bureaucrats. There was the cutting of pay given to the lower level goverment staff leading to the now historic strike which was eventually crushed. There was much borrowing from every foreign agency which was willing to lend money. And no thank, we dont any help from our local banks or financial institutions.
Now all that is over. The goverment employees will get everything they used to get and then some more. The police will be under political control. And we will turn to indigenous financing otions which the pundits adivising the goverment, all of them retired gentlemen, have suddenly discovered.
So what was the goverment doing for the past three years? Don't tell me everything the respected chief minister uttered when he took over a mere three and a half years ago were uttered with total lack of sincereity and no a inkling whatsoever of the consequences. People have been commiting suicide all over the state due to finanacial difficulties. Productivity has ground to a halt.
Show me one politician or bureaucrat who had the honesty to onfess that maybe thier decisons were wrong, decisions for which the people of Kerala (I am NOT talking about the Congress party) have paid a heavy price. All the elderly gentlemen who adorn such chairs as the one in the planning board, on in the science and technology commmittee, all the bureaucrats who still rule the state continue with no shame.
But then who ever said these gentlemen have any sense of shame ! That is a cross for the common man, isnn't it Mr.CM?
The results of the elections to the 14th Lok Sabha are out. So is the BJP. Out. The party which at one point had claimed would stay in power for over a decade encountered a nasty obstacle called the electorate. Not taken in by propaganda, or rhetoric. Guided mainly by the problems of daily existance the 400 million odd voters who went to the booths this time decided to give BJP the boot.
The reasons are not difficult to understand for anyone who lives like an average Indian. The phenomenal Forex reserve, the "feel good" factor (Which state of USA are we living in, anyway?), nothing matterd to the ordinary Indian who only gets his or her chance once every five years. What matters now are the absolute basics: the stuff they teach you at school: Roti, Kapada, Makan thing, food , clothing and shelter. The "reforms" as the changes are euphemised have certainly helped the elite, and the business intersts in India and abroad. But the ordinary Indian who unfortunately for the BJP still forms about 80% of the population would rather have food, clothing ans shelter rather than high tech stuff which isn't really good to eat. And so the targetted ousters: Yaswant Sinha, the former finance minister got bulldozed.
It would appear that the average Indian didn't take kindly to the ideas of Dr.Murali Manohar Joshi either. And how often do you see both the speaker and the deputy speaker kicked out of the house by the commons in one single kick !
The actual gain for the Congress is barely 0.1% increase in vote share. The BJP lost 3.3% votes, and effective difference in vote share btween the two leading parties is just about 2.8%. This was translates into a loss of over 80 seats for the BJP and a gain of about fifty seats for the congress. Add to this the terrible choice of partners (entire Tamil nadu desetred AIADMK, Andhra Pradesh shooed out the TDP, Mamata Banerjee is the only winner for the Trinamool Congress). The Congress didnot really win this election. The BJP lost it and the INC found itself in the right place at the right time.
The precarious alliance which the Indian National Congress will ave to make with the left parties is unlikely to prove durable. How long will such a government survive? Two years? Three?. Anyway with a bit of introspection the BJP can bounce right back to power in the next elections , maybe in 2006. If delayed too long, the Rahul-Priyanka combination may become too powerful to be overthrown!
Election time in India is always entertaning. You suddenly get to hear a lot of principles, on the basis of which parties split, alliances break down and new allliances form. NCP has now split. Shri.Sangma parted ways with Shri.Sharad Pawar. Why? Your guess is as good as mine and quite correct too. Earlier developments included several small parties of regional importance leaving the NDA. Hard, invisible bargains can be expected.
So how does the congress the react to all this, especially after the debacle in the state elections just about a month ago. By inducting the two members of the dynasty, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Wadhera into its fold. Apparently this has rejuveated the party. May be we can even expect a congress led government, with some odd allies at the centre. If yo ask me though, the chances are as good as a manned flight to Pluto in 2004.
In Kerala te political ferment is maostly subdued and almost underground now. However rumor mills are going strong with talks of both the children of a veteran leader being accomaodated in some post or other. But that is mere heresay.
And what about the state of the nation. It was never better. So much money to plunder, I suspect even the politicians are baffled how much they can safely swallow. A project on rural development alone worth Rs 75,000 crore is underway. May be we can hear the details of the money swindled out of such schemes later. On amost wonders, was Bofors worth all this effort? It was just about Rs60 crores. You can make more out of cattle feed.
Meanwhile the retired head of Sree Chithra Medical Centre, Dr.valiathan, now heading the STEC, along with the head of the planning board also a retired bureaucrat, have discovered suddenly that a lot of staff under the State Technology and Environment institutes, such as TBGRI, Rajeev Gandhi Institute etc are drawing salary without doing any work. So a study is being commissioned by these retired gentlemen who are enjoying more benefits than any employee in any of these Institutes to see how many of these inept workers can be laid off. It may be noted that the state government and all its employees were working hard and earning their pay till these guys and some others simlar to them retired !!
Sure, Kerala as 20 Lok Sabha seats. But nobody has really bothered who gts how many of these bevause most of the time it is nearly 50-50 between the two fronts, left and right. This time with the Lok Sabha polls looming larde on the hoizon, altough not yet declared, the factional politics in Kerala has hotted up. After the debacle in Thuruvalla The Karunakaran faction had been lying rather low, ecept for Murali who has yet to learn the wisdom of silence. But now suddenly the scenario has changed. The congress lost badly in the regional elections in northern states except Delhi. So the authority of Sonia Gandhi is no longer what it was about a couple of months ago. The high cammand , as it is called just cannot antagonize the karunakaran faction now. What does that imply for Kerala? A major portfolio for Murali, or maybe even a deputy chief minsitership. An MP seat for Padmaja, like say Mukundapuram, a fairly safe seat.
Which ever way you look at it =, Mr.A.K.Antony finds himself in a spot. Especially because even his hard core supporters are against such compromoises with what they percieve as mere threats from the Congress(I). In a way they are right. The leader is not exactly growing younger. Murali has a losse tongue. Padmaja has no tongue at all, although she appears to be a good administartor. The anti-karunakaran faction is therefore quite right in asking the CM not to bow to pressure tactics from the Leader's group.
In the meantime much that has been promised to the malayalee by this gverment remains unfulfilled. No one can get around that. No one, not even the CM can get arund the major scandals involving som prominent misiters of his cabinet
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