He is one Chief Minister who goes out on a limp to connect with the masses, but stays unruffled in the face of severe criticism. In an interview with Vinod Mathew, Oommen Chandy shares glimpses of how the government he leads stays the course with a slender margin.
You recently said that the LS polls will be a referendum on the performance of your government also. Are you so sure of a good showing? Pinarayi Vijayan responded that you are being your usual cunning self. Comment.
A: I don’t understand how I can be described as being cunning merely because I said this election is a referendum on my government’s performance. This is something that is always said during polls. I brought it up as others did not. Normally, many incumbent Chief Ministers would prefer not to be held responsible at the time of polls as there will always be an anti-incumbency factor at play. But I am of the firm opinion that a government should be rated from time to time.
I have the pulse of the people. They are sick of the negativity shown by the CPM. The CPM has always adopted a negative attitude about everything modern - use of tractor, computer, self-finance in education. They take time to internalise change. By then, the state suffers a huge loss. Even today they have neither realised nor adapted that people benefit from change.
The CPM has always boasted of a substantially strong rank and file. But the days of leaders emerging from within the party are long gone. How else do they justify selection of Independent candidates as ‘publicly accepted’ figures? Does that not mean they have no such figures in their rank and file? Instead of taking up issues that benefit people they go after issues such as Solar scam. I particularly want to discuss this. What happened after months of witch hunt against me? It has fizzled out because there was nothing substantial to begin with. The Solar scam amounts to `7 crore and the government never incurred any loss. It is a civil case and not a criminal one. It was the LDF Government that closed the criminal case against Biju Radhakrishnan. Why did they not pursue the case to a logical conclusion? The CPM should take up issues but also support the government when it is seen doing the right thing. In the Italian marines’ case, we took a stand different from that of the Central Government. Similarly in Mullaperiyar, FDI in retail and Kasturirangan report, we stood by the people of Kerala.
Q: The UDF had 72 MLAs in 2011, now it is up at 75. Still you keep maintaining that majority has never been a botheration. How do you substantiate that?
A: In a democracy, majority is critical. I believe that the number doesn’t matter. It is a question of the confidence of the leadership. It doesn’t matter with even a majority of one seat, because it is still a majority. I never felt all these years that I was leading a ‘low’ majority government. We went for a consensus approach.
Then we won two bypolls, the people gave us a thumbs up. The Mass Contact Programme played a critical role - for me and the people. We never wooed anyone to boost our majority.
(Here the case of R Selvaraj is raised, but the CM sticks to his stated stance that there was no overture from his side.)
Q: How hands-on were you in bringing RSP over to the UDF fold?
A: None of us from the UDF did anything to precipitate the situation. The initiative from Shibu Baby John to engage N K Premachandran and others in a dialogue began only after the RSP left the LDF fold. I never played any specific role, so nobody, by any stretch of imagination, can say that I was hands-on in bringing RSP out of the LDF.
Q: There was a time, not too long ago, when there was open infighting in your party. Not too many voices of dissidence are heard anymore. To what do you attribute this dramatic change?
A: Congressmen have a history of forgetting their differences, especially at the time of elections. Now there is an unusually high level of unity which is the need of the hour. Three of us (Ramesh, Sudheeran being the others) have been working together. We went as a team to Delhi with the candidates’ list and the high command was happy with it.
Q: How crucial has been the induction of Ramesh into the Cabinet and Sudheeran being brought in as the KPCC president?
A: (Shrugs in a non-committal manner...) Everything is okay now.
Q: Wasn’t Sudheeran thrust on the state Congress by the high command?
A: It was nothing like that.
Q: Was not there an apprehension that the high command would push its own candidate list this time also?
A: Such things are known to have happened during past elections. But not this time. There was total consensus in Congress and after some talks, also within the UDF regarding the candidate list.
Q: Do you expect your candidates to gain more from an anti-LDF sentiment than a pro-UDF wave?
A: Our decisions were based on consensus in the UDF. The government got tremendous support from the public through the mass contact programme and other initiatives. Personally, I was able to get connected and with many grassroots-level issues and gained much confidence from the mass contact exercise. As far as election results are concerned, political parties should not gloat over success or get disappointed over defeats. It’s all part of the game. We are aiming 20 out of 20 this time. Anyway, we are confident of improving on the 16 seats that we won last time.
Q: Community organisations in the past have demanded their pound of flesh from the UDF, but not this time, the exception being the Church. Comment.
A: But for two sitting MPs, the Congress fielded all the remaining 11 and coalition partners followed suit, thus giving no major grounds for complaint. We as politicians should always listen to what community organisations have to say.
Q: You have gone on record that a full-scale Cabinet reshuffle after the LS polls. Is it still on course?
A: There won’t be a complete reshuffle of the Cabinet. There will be some changes though.
(A TV crew from AICC headquarters in Delhi enters the Chief Minister’s room just as we are getting into the final phase of the interview. They ask the CM if our interaction can be filmed, he looks up and says “Why not”. By the time, they set up camera, the ‘Express’ team is through with the final question. The Chief Minister chooses that time to engage us in a chit-chat about inconsequential things, making clear his abilities for multi-tasking. In about an hour and 10 minutes he has not only finished our interview but also provided video footage to the AICC. It is around 6.15 pm on a busy weekday and Oommen Chandy is ready to get on with his next set of meetings.)
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