Despite his frequent protestations, that Sashi Tharoor is positioning himself as the chief ministerial candidate of the Congress in Kerala is well known.
What is not as well known, and somewhat peculiar, is that almost half of the party’s Lok Sabha MPs from the state are apparently keen to avoid contesting the parliamentary election in 2024 — and are, in fact, positioning themselves for ministerial positions in the state after the Assembly election, scheduled for 2026.
Among the 44 Congress MPS in the Lok Sabha, as many as 15 are from Kerala. (Of course, this includes Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, who represents Wayanad. So, 14 in effect.)
If you consider the broader Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) alliance in the state, there are three more members in the Lok Sabha: Two from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and one from the Revolutionary Socialist Party.
Kerala Congress(M) leader Thomas Chazhikkadan, who won from Kottayam on a UDF ticket, switched loyalty to the state’s ruling LDF. Among the constituents of LDF, only the CPI(M) has a presence in the Lok Sabha through its Alappuzha strongman AM Arif.
Underperforming MPs
Across Kerala, the LDF has already initiated a mass campaign targeting the Lok Sabha election, now just 15 months away. And the underperformance of the UDF, particularly Congress, MPs is one of the highlights of the campaign.
The ruling formation in Kerala has accused UDF MPs of performing abysmally and failing to properly represent the state’s people in Parliament.
South First has learnt that several state MPs have indicated to the Congress high command that they be exempted from contesting the Lok Sabha election, leaving it in a quandary.
For one, the party will have to justify its decision to the electorate in each of those constituencies why the MP does not want to contest again. Second, accepting the MPs’ requests would appear like a vindication of the LDF campaign.
Keeping away
KPCC president K Sudhakaran is among the Lok Sabha members from Kerala. He has already received the high command’s consent to skip the 2024 election. He has cited as reasons both the heavy organisational burden he carries as state party president, as well as his health.
In any event, Sudhakaan is unlikely to contest the next Assembly election in the state.
K Muraleedharan, son of former chief minister K Karunakaran, is keen on returning to state politics as he feels he has little to do in the national capital. The Vatakara MP wants to focus on his old Assembly constituency of Vattiyoorkavu in the capital Thiruvananthapuram.
Once a citadel of the Congress, Vattiyoorkavu is now represented by the CPI(M) in the Assembly. Muraleedharan has high aspirations in state politics, and he is fast becoming a Shashi Tharoor backer, abandoning his long-held position against the “imported global citizen leader”.
Kozhikode MP MK Raghavan, one of the few open backers of Tharoor in the Congress presidential election, and his Thrissur counterpart TN Prathapan have also declared their lack of interest in contesting the Lok Sabha election.
Anto Antony of Pathanamthitta, Adoor Prakash of Attingal, and Kodikunnil Suresh of Mavelikkara are also keen on preparing themselves for the Assembly elections rather than contesting the Lok Sabha election one more time.
Kasargod MP Rajmohan Unnithan has also expressed his keenness for state politics, but has clarified that he would abide by any decision of the Congress high command.
The sudden interest in the state election is understandable. Unlike the first Pinarayi Vijayan government, the second one faces large-scale anti-incumbency, and many of its policy decisions have evoked widespread public resentment. The political climate in the state is more favourable now to the UDF, which is why most of the Congress MPs prefer to contest to the state Assembly.
Venugopal’s warning
Though Congress’ national general secretary KC Venugopal, who is responsible for organisational matters, has warned MPs against unilaterally deciding to skip the Lok Sabha election, he has limitations in taking a hard stand on the matter.
He had himself skipped contesting from Alappuzha in 2019, despite being a popular MP. The UDF won all seats it contested in the last Lok Sabha election, barring Alappuzha, apparently because of Venugopal’s last-minute decision to stay away. The seat was won by the CPI(M)’s AM Arif.
Venugopal was later elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
Tharoor does some networking
“I don’t understand why you (media) are discussing the chief ministerial candidature now… there is no relevance for such discussion at present. You have to wait till 2026,” PTI quoted Tharoor as telling reporters on Thursday, 12 January, .
But that has not stopped him from continuing with his network-building exercise among leaders of various religious groups in Kerala after winning the double-edged “tharavadi Nair” status from National Service Society (NSS) supremo Sukumaran Nair.
Tharoor has already met the head of the Syrian Orthodox Christian Community in Kottayam; he is visiting the North Kerala region to meet Muslim leaders in the coming week.
His outreach to various Christian and Muslim denominations in the state is also to counter any backlash from the tharavadi Nair status awarded by Sukumaran Nair.
In Malayalam, the term “tharavadi” suggests a false pride. And Tharoor has told journalists that he believes in capability and knowledge more than in any tharavadi qualities.
His adversaries, meanwhile, are mocking Tharoor by saying Sukumaran Nair has belittled a “global citizen” by categorising him as a tharavadi Nair.
They also cite the case of senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who began facing political isolation after Sukumaran Nair called him a “Nair who must be placed in a key position”.
A section of party leaders feels Tharoor, who backed the Adani Group’s Vizhinjam international port project in Thiruvananthapuram, has lost the support of the Latin Catholic Church, which represents the fishing community that constitutes most of the votes in his Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
The church, which led several agitations against the controversial port project, feels Tharoor failed to sympathise with its grievances at crucial moments.
This section feels that it is also for this reason that Tharoor is preparing to forgo his Lok Sabha seat and focus on Assembly elections.
On the positive side, he has won, as he has nationally, the support of the apolitical middle class in the state — cutting across party lines.
What Congress leaders say
When South First contacted him to ask why Congress MPs were against contesting the general election, Kerala Assembly’s Opposition Leader VD Satheesan said the party organisation is yet to get any such communication from any of its Parliament members from the state.
“How can I respond to gossip and newspaper reports? The party has not yet initiated the process for the general election, and candidate selection will not happen anytime soon,” he pointed out.
Asked about the growing clout of Tharoor among different religious groups, he said he was happy about it and that the Congress does not consider any religious group as its enemy.
When contacted, Muraleedharan told South First that the Lok Sabha was never his political destination, and he contested the last election only out of the compulsions of that time.
Though Sukumaran Nair has been harsh on Chennithala and Satheesan in recent days, the Congress has decided against antagonising him any further.
The state leadership, a senior leader said, is also united against the pressure tactics of the Lok Sabha members.
