Stakes in Pala seat and power signals deepen churn in Kerala Cong (M)
THE battle for Pala has once again brought internal dynamics within the Kerala Congress (M) into sharp focus, with Minister Roshy Augustine's repeated assertion that party Chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Jose K. Mani will contest from the Assembly seat, triggering visible discomfort within sections of the party.
For the Mani family, Pala is a political legacy.
The late K. M. Mani held the Assembly constituency in an unbroken run from 1967 until his demise in 2019.
Yet, the by-election that followed altered the landscape, with Jose's nominee losing.
In 2021, after aligning his faction with the CPI-M-led LDF, Jose contested from the Pala Assembly constituency while serving as a Rajya Sabha member and was defeated again, even as five of his party members won, cementing Kerala Congress (M) as the third-largest ally in the Left Front.
The arithmetic has since grown more delicate.
The 2019 by-election winner, Mani C. Kappan, who had then enjoyed Left support, shifted to the Congress-led UDF.
A second straight defeat for Jose in the Pala Assembly seat could prove politically costly, prompting what insiders describe as a calibrated wait-and-watch approach on his candidacy.
It is in this context that Roshy's announcement at Adimali during the LDF central region march where he took the microphone to declare Jose as the Pala candidate, has assumed significance.
Though Jose later said that a collective decision is pending and termed Roshy's remarks as enthusiastic, sources suggest he has been privately upset over the repeated public assertions.
Complicating matters further, Kappan has now gone on record claiming he possesses detailed information about Jose's alleged discussions with leaders of the Congress-led UDF regarding a possible shift.
Roshy had earlier publicly dismissed any talk of a front change, even as speculation swirled after the Left's recent electoral setbacks.
With legacy, arithmetic and alliance equations intersecting in Pala, the messaging from within Kerala Congress (M) is being closely tracked.
Whether clarity emerges on Jose's candidacy and on the party's longer-term alignment could significantly influence the evolving political script.
