The Always Casting Jose of Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: No other Speaker, perhaps, would have exercised his casting vote eight times in 80 days to keep a state government in office like A C Jose, Congress MLA, in the eighties.

This saving act of Jose — who presided over the Kerala Assembly in 1981-82 with United Democratic Front and the Left Democratic Front facing a 70-70 tie — won him the nick name Always Casting Jose till K Karunakaran government remitted office.

Jose had to cast the first vote to save the government from a noconfidence motion and the next was to pass motion of thanks to governor’s address.

This short-lived government was the by-product of a huge political churning that the state witnessed in 1981following the fall of a Left government under E K Nayanar. The Nayanar government had to quit when the Congress (S) having 22 MLAs (including a nominated Anglo Indian MLA) withdrew support. Kerala Congress (M) having eight MLAs followed suit. One of the six RSP MLAs, Kadavoor Sivadasan, also withdrew support in October, 1981, causing the immediate fall of the LDF government.

The state came under President’s rule as different parties were engaged in negotiations to form the next government. The Congress (S) had split with six MLAs forming another group in protest against A K Antony’s decision to support his bete noire K Karunakaran, who had aligned with Indira Gandhi when the party split in Kerala. The unexpected split in Congress (S) became a hurdle to Karunakaran’s plans.

But shrewd Karunakaran was unfazed and the new front having 67 MLAs (including Anglo Indian nominee Stephan Padua) staked claim to form the next government on December 24, 1981. Interestingly, at that point the LDF had 68 MLAs, including speaker A P Kurian. Janata party having five MLAs and independent MLA from Pathanamthitta K K Nair remained neutral.

Governor Jyothi Venkitachalam invited Karunakaran to form the government as she had confidence in his claim to prove the majority on the floor of the house. On December 28, the government led by Karunakaran was sworn in. The decision of the governor, without even seeking the letters of support from majority of MLAs, startled the opposition LDF which organized a massive protest in front of Raj Bhavan on the day of swearing in.

The governor hadn’t even set a time frame for Karunakaran to seek trust vote. Ultimately, the first assembly session of the new government was convened only on January 29, 1982, after one month of swearing in.

After swearing in, the first thing Karunakaran did was to ensure the support of independent K K Nair. His demand — creation of Pathanamthitta district — was accepted by Karunakaran in lieu of support. Next, he split Janata party and obtained the support of three of its MLAs. The magic figure of 71was thus reached. Two of the remaining Janata MLAs then extended support to the LDF.

But with the speaker and deputy speaker quitting, the assembly had to elect a new speaker. Congress (A) leader A C Jose was elected speaker. With the seat positions tied at 70-70, the casting vote of speaker Jose was the sole thread on which the government hung on to power. Eventually, Karunakaran had to resign on March 17, 1982, when Kerala Congress (M) MLA Lonappan Nambadan, who had nurtured a grudge ever since the party decided to support UDF, withdrew his support.