THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Will KR Gowri be sidelined in her own party which she had formed in 1994 after her expulsion from the CPM? The plenum of the Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy (JSS) to be held on Sunday will decide the political future of the 91-year-old leader.
The plenum has been called to decide whether the JSS should continue in the UDF with which Gowri’s relations remain strained since her defeat in the 2006 Assembly elections. If sources are to be believed, the JSS is heading for a vertical split with majority of the leaders already making their minds to stay with the UDF.
It will be difficult for Gowri to get sympathisers within her party if she wants to quit the Congress-led UDF. She has already realised this fact and hence, for the past couple of weeks, she has been meeting party leaders from various districts individually to get a first-hand feedback.
The Congress circles are also looking forward to a possible split in the JSS since they feel that it is imminent. For them, Gowri has become a tough nut to crack. Already, feelers have been sent to various JSS leaders with certain offers. They have been promised that if they stay with the UDF, the Congress would be ready to give three Assembly seats in the ensuing elections. With this offer, the Congress is eying three prominent leaders from the JSS camp; A N Rajan Babu, KK Shaju and Umesh Challiyil.
All these three leaders are learnt to have decided to stay with the UDF even if Gowri takes a decision to quit the front. They have conveyed this to both Gowri and the Congress leaders. It is also significant to know whether Gowri would send JSS representatives to be part of the Kerala Mochana Yatra led by Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy which begins on January 10 from Manjeswaram. The UDF convener has already asked the JSS to name the party representatives who will be accompanying Chandy in the yatra as all the other UDF constituents have decided their representatives. The yatra itself was postponed since the JSS plenum is scheduled for Sunday. If at all there is no official declaration on the JSS nominees for the yatra or Gowri decides not to be part of it, the Congress leaders hope that Shaju and Rajan Babu will be taking part in it defying Gowri.
Though Finance Minister Thomas Isaac had met Gowri a couple of days back, she is yet to get a concrete assurance from the LDF. This has undoubtedly put the veteran leader in a difficult position. Hence, the plenum would be a decider on the future of Gowri in Kerala politics.