The entry of Alphons Kannanthanam into the Union council of ministers earlier this month has led to trouble for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in Kerala, with one ally indicating that it wants out of the alliance, and a potential ally hinting that it might join the Congress-led United Democratic Front instead.
With his appointment as minister of state (independent charge) in the Ministry of Tourism, Kannanthanam is the sole representative from Kerala in the council of ministers. With just 18 months to go for the next Lok Sabha elections, the coastal state is unlikely to get another such representative.
Bharat Dharma Jana Sena upset
In the past three weeks, the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena has dropped strong hints that it is thinking of leaving the National Democratic Alliance. Its leaders have said that the party is exploring the possibility of aligning with the other two prominent coalitions in Kerala – the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
The Bharath Dharma Jana Sena is a political outfit of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, a social organisation which represents the numerically strong Hindu Ezhava community in the state.
On Wednesday, the party abstained from an NDA-led protest march in Alappuzha on Wednesday against state transport minister Thomas Chandy, who is facing land grab allegations. It has also decided not to cooperate with the proposed Janaraksha Yatra in October, which BJP state president Kummanam Rajashekharan is scheduled to lead, from Kannur in the North to Thiruvanathapuram in the South, to highlight the alleged attacks on Sangh Parivar workers by communist cadres.
Giving credence to speculation that the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena was thinking of going its own way, Vellappally Natesan, party leader and general secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, held discussions with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week. The party’s leaders are also planning to hold discussions with the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
On August 31, Natesan had said that the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena must snap its alliance with BJP and join the ruling Left Democratic Front. “There are Shahs in Kerala who are bigger than Amit Shah,” he said at that time. “BJP has betrayed us. It hasn’t given us anything.”
Natesan’s son and state party president, Thushar Vellappally, said the party will join another coalition soon. “It is true that NDA is not working as a united entity,” he said. “The rank and file of my party is miffed as the BJP has failed to honour its promises. We will take a decision to join an appropriate coalition at the right time.”
Asked whether this was just a pressure tactic, he said: “We don’t believe in pressure tactics. All the three coalitions in Kerala want us in their fold. We have plenty of options.”
BJP president Amit Shah had brokered the deal with the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena in March 2016 with the aim to consolidate Hindu votes ahead of the Assembly elections that year. Party leaders say that Shah had promised to give its leaders a ministry in Delhi and positions in different government-run corporations as part of the deal.
Though party leaders have been waiting for more than a year for the BJP to honour its promises, Alphons Kannanthanam’s recent inclusion in the Union council of ministers was the immediate trigger for the current discontent.
Kerala Congress’s Mani back to UDF?
Kannanthanam, an Indian Administrative Service officer-turned-politician, is a member of the Christian community. His entry into the council of ministers has also effectively ended speculation that the Kerala Congress (Mani), which wields considerable clout in the church, would join the NDA.
It is led by veteran politician KM Mani who severed the party’s three-decade-old association with the Congress-led United Democratic Front in August 2016, alleging that certain factions of the Congress had hatched a conspiracy to weaken his outfit. This had led to rumours that the party would join the NDA if Mani’s son, Jose K Mani, was given a berth in the Union council of ministers.
Amit Shah was said to be keen on having Mani in the NDA to win over the state’s Christian minority ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and 2021 Assembly polls. However, it is unlikely that another member from the Christian community from Kerala will enter the council of ministers before the next general elections.
Mani openly hinted at the possibility of his party returning to the United Democratic Front fold while addressing a public function on river linking in Kottayam on September 16, which was attended by Congress leader and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
Speaking at the function, Mani said he and Chandy were good rowers.
Chandy pounced on the opportunity and told Mani that they shoud row together in the same boat. Mani’s reply came immediately: “Let us see the course of the wind.”
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