PCC(I) finds it tough to tackle issue

By Girish Menon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 1. The Kerala Pradesh Congress(I) Committee is finding it difficult to comply with the April 30 deadline for ending all local alliances not authorised by either itself or the UDF.

In many districts, the alliances are of bizarre shapes, with Congress(I) members breaking bread with either the BJP or the CPI(M), to keep one of the UDF partners out of power. However, the interesting aspect is that the charge of illegal alliance is not just against the Congress(I), which has pointed out similar instances of its partners like the IUML's association with the opposite camp.

The April 30 deadline to sever all unauthorised alliances was fixed by the UDF high-power committee at its meeting in the first week of April. The KPCC(I) later endorsed it and even sent circulars to its district and lower functionaries. The UDF was forced to take such a decision when the IUML made some plain statements regarding such alliances which were working against its interests. The IUML all-India general secretary, Mr. E. Ahmed, and later Mr. Korambayil Ahmed Haji categorically asked the Congress(I) leadership to end such alliances.

The IUML listed out 11 panchayats in Malappuram district where the Congress(I) had teamed up with the CPI(M) to keep the League out of power. This, however, was disputed by the AICC(I) general secretary, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, who claimed that the dispute was restricted to just four panchayats. He had explained that the disputes here had cropped up even before the panchayat elections in 1995 and the two parties went to the polls without firming up the seat-sharing process. The illegal alliances are not restricted to Malappuram alone. Recently, the KPCC(I) suspended the president of Karadukka panchayat, Mr. Narayanan, from the party for refusing to comply with the ultimatum. In Kannur and Kasaragod districts, unauthorised alliances have been struck not only in panchayats but in cooperative societies as well.

The fight is not confined to the IUML and the Congress(I) alone. In several places in Kottayam, Pathanamthitta etc, the Kerala Congress factions have been charged with pulling the rug from under the feet of its partners and vice versa.

But the most difficult job facing the KPCC(I) is to make its disciplinary action strict. In most of the panchayats, the alliances are very loose and even party affiliation is very thin. Thanks to the trend of fielding known personalities in the local bodies poll, party loyalty was not one of the criteria which went into the choice of candidates.

According to a KPCC(I) office-bearer, the most difficult part of the ultimatum was to make the disciplinary proceedings strict. In many cases, the Karadukka incident for example, the party has been defied, and the alliances continue with impunity. In some cases, like the Palakkad Municipality, the unauthorised alliance was ended, but UDF leaders were finding it difficult to work out a formula for sharing of various posts in the municipality.

The UDF is scheduled to meet on May 10 to review the progress made so far. Before that, IUML leaders are expected to meet the Congress(I) president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, on May 6. And senior IUML leaders would be in Delhi to attend a national meet of the party.

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Section  : Regional
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