The decision, conveyed recently to Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in Delhi, will, in all probability, accentuate factional rivalries plaguing the party.

The ill-advised move to put off the polls until after the local bodies elections scheduled to be held in September betrays a shocking reluctance to face the unpleasant ground realities, and bodes ill for the party.

The reason for the deferment of the organisational polls, advanced by the high command, is that, in view of the proximity of the local bodies elections, holding of the party polls before that will aggravate an already bad situation.

Such display of a weak will and failure to enforce discipline will also embolden dissidents in the party to step up their activities aimed at fishing in troubled waters.

The disturbing trend is already evident in Andhra Pradesh, where the son of late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy has undertaken a statewide yatra ignoring the directive of the party high command not to do so

Understandably, the high command's decision on the Kerala crisis has caused dismay among the party's rank and file. Congress activists and leaders, who are pained by the unseemly squabbles among the leaders for the spoils of office, said that instead of deferring the polls, the party leadership should have pressured the Kerala unit to evolve a formula that would take care of the interests of the various groups including those of the Karunakaran group.

True, the high command did voice its disapproval of the 'consensus' formula evolved by KPCC chief Chennithala and senior leader Oommen Chandy. But it left things at that.

Its unwillingness to take decisive action seems to have emboldened the Chennithala-Chandy duo to reject the demands of the Karunakaran group for a few organisational posts.

Be that as it may, the failure to complete the organisational polls as per the schedule has affected the prestige of the Congress in Kerala and weakened its standing vis-à-vis its allies in the United Democratic Front (UDF). Successful holding of the polls would have enhanced the prestige of the party and given the impression that the party is capable of closing its ranks when it comes to the crunch. But that was not to be. And hence the move to put off the polls.

The uncharacteristic pusillanimity shown by the party leadership is bound to add to its problems, especially at the time of the State Assembly elections due in May next year. If the leadership cannot tackle a comparatively minor issue of holding organisational elections, how it will deal with the more difficult task of selecting candidates for the assembly elections, worried party activists ask.

The allies of the Congress, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Kerala Congress (Mani) are also disenchanted with the bickering in the Congress.

They think that such unseemly squabbles in the Congress, with assembly elections barely a year away, cannot but weaken the UDF of which the Congress is the main constituent. (IPA)