Ramesh Chennithala joins Oommen Chandy cabinet

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala today joined the UDF ministry headed by Oommen Chandy as part of a move to boost prospects of the coalition in the coming Lok Sabha polls by setting factional and equations correct.

In a limited cabinet expansion, Governor Nikhil Kumar administered oath of office and secrecy to 57-year-old Chennithala. He is tipped to get the Home portfolio in the ministry, replacing his party colleague Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan, who has been retained in the cabinet.

Chief Minister Chandy, his cabinet colleagues, senior party functionaries, leaders of the UDF partners and deputy leader of opposition in the assembly Kodiyeri Balakrishnan were present at the function. A thinking has been strong in Congress in Kerala that induction of Chennithala will help Congress firm up its support base among the majority community in general and the Nair community in particular to which he belongs to.

Influential Nair outfit NSS had in the past had come down heavily on UDF alleging that the coalition leadership breached its poll-eve promise of giving Chennithala a "key position" in the cabinet, in which nominees from Christian and Muslim communities outnumber those from various Hindu sections.

The idea to rope in Chennithala, mooted by the party high command, was endorsed by the state unit yesterday after senior leader and Defence Minister A K Antony conveyed it at a leadership meeting attended by Chandy, Chennithala and others. Chennithala will continue as the KPCC chief till the organisational and a ministerial shuffle after the budget session of the state assembly, beginning on January 3, is concluded.

One of the longest serving KPCC Presidents reputed for organisational skills, Chennithala is becoming a Minister after a gap of nearly 27 years.

His first brief ministerial stint was in 1986 when his one-time mentor K Karunakaran made him Rural Development Minister bypassing many a senior, which became a turning point in his career. Since then, he rose to become national president of the Youth Congress being handpicked by late Rajiv Gandhi, which helped him to strike strong bonds with the high command on account of his unflinching loyalty to the Gandhi-Nehru family.

In 1989, Chennithala resigned from the assembly to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Mavelikkara, which he won with a comfortable margin. After that he has a victory spree getting re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996 and 1999 and also served as AICC Secretary. He returned to the home state to head the party nine years ago and steered the UDF to victory. 

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Oommen Chandy makes the right contact

Oommen Chandy’s hugely successful mass contact programmes helped him stay afloat even as hard-hitting controversies rocked the United Democratic Front boat badly. (Seen here is Oommen Chandy collecting petitions from the public during a mass contact programme held recently in Pathanamthitta) —DC

Thiruvananthapuram: Few thought the Chandy Ministry on a wafer thin majority (67 LDF, 74 UDF) would last so long, given the aspirations of parties and communities and their tendency to fish in troubled waters. To cap it all, the passing year saw Chief Minister Oommen Chandy buffeted by scandals.

But Chandy, the cool strategist, weathered it on the strength of his track record and the image of a man of the masses. Many reckoned that the threats, intimidations and scandals would sink the boat but Chandy, the skipper, saw “the positive side” of things and sailed the waves.

He faced Government Chief Whip P C George’s no-holds-barred punches, the Marxist cadres’ massing on the Government Secretariat on August12-13 and the disloyalty by a section of party men with a sense of detachment and astuteness. 

When the red cadre laid siege to the Secretariat for a little over a day on October 12-13 in a seemingly long-haul campaign, Chandy gave his chief rival- CPM secretary Pinarayi Vijayan- sound reason to call off the stir. He offered a judicial probe into the Solar scam. But the LDF leaders and cadre still rue the anticlimax. Chandy’s masterstroke it was, though several theories abound on how he pulled it off.   

Chandy belies classical superman concepts. It is as if he is running on errands all the time. He lacks the late K Karunakaran’s cunning but manages to outfox rivals and foes of his time. He was a darling of the youth in the 70’s and 80’s.  By the late 60’s, he was a student leader. But he was content to remain in the shadows of A.K. Antony for decades.

All the while he built up a mass base on trust. The mass contact programme is an offshoot of this trust with the common folks. Even local CPM neta E P Omana, sister of Kannur firebrand leader E P Jayarajan, could not resist the temptation of tiptoeing into Chandy’s mass contact programme in Kannur last week.

Political pundits fail to differentiate between the ‘work to rule’ mode of many politicians and tedium that’s Chandy routine. Chandy connects with the faceless poor and helpless them in ways he thinks best, ignoring the criticism that it’s all a stunt.

Even the high command could not fault Chandy who ensured the three essentials prescribed by it to continue in office-the majority in the Congress Legislative Party, the support from coalition partners and successful by-elections.

At 70, Chandy has shed his unkempt looks, shows no fatigue. When the Solar scam snowballed, he sacked three buddies but has managed to fob off charges that he was personally involved in murky deals. He has picked up more patience and spunk.

(Writer is CMP leader and Planning Board member)

View the original article here

Oommen Chandy makes the right contact

Oommen Chandy’s hugely successful mass contact programmes helped him stay afloat even as hard-hitting controversies rocked the United Democratic Front boat badly. (Seen here is Oommen Chandy collecting petitions from the public during a mass contact programme held recently in Pathanamthitta) —DC

Thiruvananthapuram: Few thought the Chandy Ministry on a wafer thin majority (67 LDF, 74 UDF) would last so long, given the aspirations of parties and communities and their tendency to fish in troubled waters. To cap it all, the passing year saw Chief Minister Oommen Chandy buffeted by scandals.

But Chandy, the cool strategist, weathered it on the strength of his track record and the image of a man of the masses. Many reckoned that the threats, intimidations and scandals would sink the boat but Chandy, the skipper, saw “the positive side” of things and sailed the waves.

He faced Government Chief Whip P C George’s no-holds-barred punches, the Marxist cadres’ massing on the Government Secretariat on August12-13 and the disloyalty by a section of party men with a sense of detachment and astuteness. 

When the red cadre laid siege to the Secretariat for a little over a day on October 12-13 in a seemingly long-haul campaign, Chandy gave his chief rival- CPM secretary Pinarayi Vijayan- sound reason to call off the stir. He offered a judicial probe into the Solar scam. But the LDF leaders and cadre still rue the anticlimax. Chandy’s masterstroke it was, though several theories abound on how he pulled it off.   

Chandy belies classical superman concepts. It is as if he is running on errands all the time. He lacks the late K Karunakaran’s cunning but manages to outfox rivals and foes of his time. He was a darling of the youth in the 70’s and 80’s.  By the late 60’s, he was a student leader. But he was content to remain in the shadows of A.K. Antony for decades.

All the while he built up a mass base on trust. The mass contact programme is an offshoot of this trust with the common folks. Even local CPM neta E P Omana, sister of Kannur firebrand leader E P Jayarajan, could not resist the temptation of tiptoeing into Chandy’s mass contact programme in Kannur last week.

Political pundits fail to differentiate between the ‘work to rule’ mode of many politicians and tedium that’s Chandy routine. Chandy connects with the faceless poor and helpless them in ways he thinks best, ignoring the criticism that it’s all a stunt.

Even the high command could not fault Chandy who ensured the three essentials prescribed by it to continue in office-the majority in the Congress Legislative Party, the support from coalition partners and successful by-elections.

At 70, Chandy has shed his unkempt looks, shows no fatigue. When the Solar scam snowballed, he sacked three buddies but has managed to fob off charges that he was personally involved in murky deals. He has picked up more patience and spunk.

(Writer is CMP leader and Planning Board member)

View the original article here

Oommen Chandy makes the right contact

Oommen Chandy’s hugely successful mass contact programmes helped him stay afloat even as hard-hitting controversies rocked the United Democratic Front boat badly. (Seen here is Oommen Chandy collecting petitions from the public during a mass contact programme held recently in Pathanamthitta) —DC

Thiruvananthapuram: Few thought the Chandy Ministry on a wafer thin majority (67 LDF, 74 UDF) would last so long, given the aspirations of parties and communities and their tendency to fish in troubled waters. To cap it all, the passing year saw Chief Minister Oommen Chandy buffeted by scandals.

But Chandy, the cool strategist, weathered it on the strength of his track record and the image of a man of the masses. Many reckoned that the threats, intimidations and scandals would sink the boat but Chandy, the skipper, saw “the positive side” of things and sailed the waves.

He faced Government Chief Whip P C George’s no-holds-barred punches, the Marxist cadres’ massing on the Government Secretariat on August12-13 and the disloyalty by a section of party men with a sense of detachment and astuteness. 

When the red cadre laid siege to the Secretariat for a little over a day on October 12-13 in a seemingly long-haul campaign, Chandy gave his chief rival- CPM secretary Pinarayi Vijayan- sound reason to call off the stir. He offered a judicial probe into the Solar scam. But the LDF leaders and cadre still rue the anticlimax. Chandy’s masterstroke it was, though several theories abound on how he pulled it off.   

Chandy belies classical superman concepts. It is as if he is running on errands all the time. He lacks the late K Karunakaran’s cunning but manages to outfox rivals and foes of his time. He was a darling of the youth in the 70’s and 80’s.  By the late 60’s, he was a student leader. But he was content to remain in the shadows of A.K. Antony for decades.

All the while he built up a mass base on trust. The mass contact programme is an offshoot of this trust with the common folks. Even local CPM neta E P Omana, sister of Kannur firebrand leader E P Jayarajan, could not resist the temptation of tiptoeing into Chandy’s mass contact programme in Kannur last week.

Political pundits fail to differentiate between the ‘work to rule’ mode of many politicians and tedium that’s Chandy routine. Chandy connects with the faceless poor and helpless them in ways he thinks best, ignoring the criticism that it’s all a stunt.

Even the high command could not fault Chandy who ensured the three essentials prescribed by it to continue in office-the majority in the Congress Legislative Party, the support from coalition partners and successful by-elections.

At 70, Chandy has shed his unkempt looks, shows no fatigue. When the Solar scam snowballed, he sacked three buddies but has managed to fob off charges that he was personally involved in murky deals. He has picked up more patience and spunk.

(Writer is CMP leader and Planning Board member)

View the original article here