The spin-offs in the Solar case which has generated intense heat in the political firmament of Kerala and within the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) for the past two months has drawn a fresh canvas in which Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has seemingly outsmarted all and emerged stronger.
The LDF, especially the leading partner CPI(M) has cut a sorry figure, with a much hyped Secretariat siege being abruptly called off after a day of its launch last week, simply satisfied with a judicial probe announced by the government while swallowing the other demand for Chandy’s resignation, understandably as part of a deal.
The grapevine is that the CPI(M) does not want anymore head on collision with the government in the T P Chandrasekharan murder case, which had cornered many regional satraps of the party, while also pointing the needle of suspicion towards the top leadership itself. The CPI(M) leadership, despite its brave front in public, is also aware of the SNC-Lavalin case in which CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan is involved, the Land Gift case centered around former chief minister V S Achuthanandan.The CPI(M) mood at the top echelons turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Chandy and his trusted lieutenants to buy peace easily.
The clever moves of Chandy and team had also forced the ‘I’ group opposed to him in the Congress to eat humble pie apart from triggering media and public talk that the CPI(M) was virtually running away from the agitation.
If the CPI(M) had drawn flak in the past as a proponent of murder politics, especially in the Malabar region, it has now attained the image across the state as as party ditching the cadres. In the process, the wily Chandy has proved that he is indeed a Machiavellian in state politics by putting opponents of different hues in their place.
The withdrawal of the siege was formalised after high level talks on the sly, beginning with making use of the channels between the two fronts even before the day of the siege, for a truce.
‘’Both sides were keen that the situation should not be allowed to go out of control’’, Industries Minister and Indian Union Muslim League strongman P K Kunhalikutty, who was a key figure in the parleys, confided to The Sunday Standard.
Allegations have also cropped up that the CPI(M) had settled for a quid pro quo deal with the UDF government not to ruffle more feathers by linking prominent leaders as the masterminds in the T P murder case. However, Home Minister Tiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan dismissed such things. “I vouch that there is no such thing. The CPI(M) was desperate to withdraw the stir as there was every possibility of the situation getting out of hand. They only face saver they wanted was at least a judicial probe”,the minister said.
Chandy, for a change, deviated from his usual style and took all UDF constituents into confidence, including CMP and JSS which has no MLA’s. The chief minister also kept KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala informed on the developments and called meetings of the UDF leaders twice, before announcing the judicial probe. “When Chandy told me that the CPI(M) wants to withdraw the stir on a condition that a judicial probe has been listed as a must for it, I didn’t object,” Chennithala said.
The Secretariat siege was one of the master strokes of the LDF against Chandy and the UDF government in the Solar issue. Earlier, the Left had spearheaded a day and night dharna in front of the state secretariat and district collectorates for ten days at a stretch. Thousands of CPI(M) activists had poured into the state capital without asking, surpassing plans and expectations of the leadership. The CPI(M) leadership felt the heat of the overflow of cadres on the first day itself, as there was not sufficient basic amenities to all of them. Though the plan was to add 10,000 volunteers on each day and scale up to a one lakh force, nearly half a lakh cadres swarmed the capital city on the first day itself.
CPI(M) is the end loser in the whole game, as the party has been forced to repeat again and again that only the secretariat siege has been called off and all other forms of protest announced against Chandy earlier—boycotting his function and waving of black flags—would continue. Chandy, on his part, has subtly challenged it after the fizzled out siege drama and made it clear that it is for the people to decide and not the CPI(M).