Sudheeran has taken over in the teeth of opposition from both Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who had favoured Speaker G Karthikeyan as the KPCC chief. Chandy is against Sudheeran as the latter has been an unsparing critic of the Government on many issues including the Aranmula airport and mineral sand mining.

Sudheeran’s USPs have been his spotlessly clean record as a former health minister and as former Speaker of the State Assembly and an uncompromising attitude on people’s issues. These are the qualities that influenced the Congress High Command’s decision in his favour.

The decision has been welcomed wholeheartedly by the party’s rank and file. It is agreed by one and all that this is the best thing that has happened to the Congress with only months left for the crucial Lok Sabha elections. Sudheeran alone can help the party whose image has been badly tarnished by the various acts of omission and commission of the United Democratic Front (UDF) Government headed by the party.

The decision would mean that the chief minister will have to change his ‘autocratic’ style of functioning. Hereafter Chandy will have to consult the party before taking any decision on major policy matters. For, both Sudheeran and V D Satheesan, the new KPCC vice-president, have been unsparing critics of Chandy for failing to discuss major issues with the party.

That Oommen Chandy is unhappy about the High Command’s decision is an open secret. Chandy made his displeasure clear by staying away from the functioning at which Sudheeran took over as the KPCC chief. He also boycotted a reception organised to honour Sudheeran. What is more, Chandy was conspicuous by his absence when Congress president Sonia Gandhi was in Kochi on her way to the Lakshadweep and, again, when she left for Delhi after completing her engagements in Kerala!

The most important upshot of Sudheeran’s becoming the KPCC president has been a decisive blow against groupism, which has been the bane of the State Congress. That the High Command is in no mood to tolerate rampant groupism plaguing the Kerala unit any more was made clear by Sonia while addressing a Congress convention in Kochi. ‘I am not for this group or that group. There is only one group, and that is the Congress group. Every Congress leader and worker should strive to ensure the success of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections ahead,’ she told the gathering, which included Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who had literally divided the Congress between themselves by putting a premium on group politics. Sonia’s criticism against groupism was lustily cheered by the party activists, to the visible discomfort of both Chandy and Chennithala.

In other words, Sudheeran’s elevation spells the end of the Chandy-Chennithala domination of the State party for decades. The Sudheeran effect is already visible. The new KPCC chief has issued strict instructions against holding group meetings. The results are already showing: the I group leaders have apologized for holding group meetings in defiance of his order. Likewise, Kannur MP K. Sudhakaran, who had declared a day after Sonia spoke against groupism in the party that groupism cannot be stopped, has retracted his words. Sonia Gandhi’s is the last word on party matters, the combative MP agreed after Sudheeran deplored his outburst. Sudheeran has also imposed a ban of sorts on party leaders voicing open criticism of the government and the party. Party leaders should also not criticize the UDF constituents, should avoid contacts with tainted persons and shady characters, he ordered.

The most serious challenge for Sudheeran will be the selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Both Chandy and Chennithala can be expected to make things difficult for him despite their public professions of cooperation. One thing is, however, clear. The selection of candidates will no longer be on the basis of group loyalties. The only criterion, Sudheran has said, will be winnability, clean image and track record. If this yardstick is applied, many of the 13 sitting Congress MPs – loyalist of both Chandy and Chennithala - could lose tickets. But, then, the Congress will have to field candidates with a clean image and acceptability if the party wants to repeat the 2009 LS poll performance.

It is an acid test for Sudheeran. One thing is in his favour. The new mood in the party clearly frowns upon the old, group-based politics. The party high command is solidly behind him. He also has the overwhelming support of the party’s rank and file. That must give Sudheeran the strength to go ahead and implement the agenda: of refurbishing the sullied image of the party and ensuring the best possible performance in the electoral battle ahead. Chandy and Chennithala have been forewarned. Failure to see the writing on the wall would mean marginalization in the party which they had hitherto treated as their personal fiefdom. (IPA Service)