For long, West Bengal was one state that served as a point of reference for Kerala. On Saturday, a good four days after the Assembly results were declared in the two states, Suvendu Adhikari, the Opposition leader for the last five years, was sworn in as the first BJP Chief Minister of West Bengal. The BJP leadership in Delhi had no hesitation in picking Adhikari. There was no central BJP leader angling for the CM’s post.
Meanwhile, in Kerala, Leader of Opposition for the past five years V D Satheesan, who led the Congress-led UDF to a resounding victory, is waiting for the High Command to decide between him and two other claimants — AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, a sitting MP and Ramesh Chennithala. The battle for the chief ministership has been so intense that the two AICC observers, who met all 63 Congress MLAs, found 47 in support of Venugopal. Yet, they could not ignore the groundswell in favour of Satheesan, underlined by the nod in his favour from the numerically strong Indian Union Muslim League.
Messrs Mukul Wasnik and Ajay Maken then lobbed the ball into the court of AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge and, ultimately, Rahul Gandhi. Their hours-long discussion on Saturday could not yield a decision. It will come in “due time”. Points to ponder: the Congress candidates did not win merely on the strength of party votes. A large number of neutral voters weighed in. So did a significant section of traditional Left voters. Yes, they wanted to put an end to the arrogance and pomposity of Pinarayi Vijayan and his band of ministers.
The flip side is that they also saw a worthy CM candidate in Satheesan, with many of them won over by his straight-shooting style, sharp wit and ability to stand toe-to-toe with opponents in the Assembly. They say supplanting Satheesan with another leader would be akin to a groom being wooed by an attractive girl suddenly being asked to marry her unattractive sister. It is a moot question whether the High Command will go against the tangible majority Venugopal enjoys in the House in favour of the intangible “people’s leader” card that Satheesan holds.
The people of Kerala are not amused by the shenanigans unfolding in Delhi. They may have taken the flex-board wars and public demonstrations sweeping the state in their stride. What did catch their attention were hundreds of social media posts, a majority arguing that any attempt to sideline Satheesan would sow the seeds of destruction for the government at its very inception. Amazingly, the voice of dissidence has been most strident among UDF workers in Irikkur in Kannur, the one constituency deemed a safe seat for Venugopal.
What they say is that the decision-makers in Delhi should not take their support for granted if a by-election is thrust upon them — especially if it is aimed at unseating Satheesan from the pedestal where they have already placed him. They claim their vote would negate that of the MLAs backing Venugopal, who, in his capacity as AICC general secretary, has allegedly fixed the match in his own favour. Yet, the High Command will have the last word. Here are a few unanswered questions:
• What happened to the Congress decision that “Members of Parliament should not contest state elections”?
• Why did Venugopal not contest the election and instead wait till the UDF victory, suggesting a backdoor entry?
• Why trigger two by-elections — one for the Assembly and another for Parliament?
Tailpiece: What if the Congress loses one of the two sitting seats?
(The author is a senior journalist. His views are personal.)
