For the Left Democratic Front, the defeat of the Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose K. Mani is easily the most embarrassing moment in this Assembly elections.
The scion of the late KC(M) leader K.M. Mani, he had nursed Pala with fervour, but was engulfed by its anti-Left character. Even the CPI(M)'s bid to save its confidant in the prestige battle against arch rival Mani C. Kappan failed to check the defeat.
But even as the captain lost his game, his team has almost won the battle as the regional party won five out of the 12 seats allotted to it. But the predicament that it has caught in also gave rise to confusion within the ranks on whether to celebrate the victory or to grieve the loss of Pala.
The defeat has now put Mr. Mani in a strange situation of leading his party without any parliamentary positions at a time when the political front his party belongs to comes to power. Considering that it is a situation that none of the Kerala Congress leaders had to confront in its more than five decades, the task comes as a real test of character to Mr. Mani as he will have to control the party legislators, especially those holding the ministerial berth.
“It is a delicate situation as the possibility of more power centres emerging within the party is much higher. This is a challenge that his father K.M. Mani, who led the party for five long decades, never had to encounter,” said a senior Kerala Congress leader.
The LDF, at the same time, appears content with the new-found association as the experiment has helped it improve the seat tally in Kottayam from two to five. The victory, meanwhile, also presents an opportunity for Mr. Mani to act as a bridge between the LDF and the Christian community and always maintain an upper hand in central Travancore.
The performance of Kerala Congress led by P.J. Joseph, at the same time, too has been below par. Of the 10 seats allotted to it by the United Democratic Front (UDF), the party won just two seats in the form of Kaduthurthy and Thodupuzha. While it conceded the sitting seat of Changanassery to KC(M), the party's hope of wresting the Idukki seat from Roshy Augustine too went awry.
“The Joseph group too will have to face some tough questions on the special position accorded to it in the agrarian core of Idukki and Kottayam, besides dealing with the dissident voices within over the party revamp,” the leader pointed out.
