Kochi: Groupism seems to be an infectious disease affecting all parties in Kerala, with the rightist BJP becoming the latest victim of it.
It all started in the Congress between factions led by Mr Clean A K Antony and K Karunakaran. Soon it spread to the CPM where V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan fought a pitched battle culminating in Pinarayi emerging a winner as V S backed out due to age factor.
Both the Congress and CPM led fronts can justify having inter group rivalry as they have ruled the state on a number of occasions as they are well rooted in the state.
A party like BJP which is yet to prove its mettle in state politics having factions within it exposes the shaky foundation on which it is functioning in the state.
BJP had its first Union Minister from the state when senior party leader O Rajagopal was made junior Railway minister.
Nomination of Kummanam Rajasekharan and Sreedharan Pillai as Governors and Alphons Kannanthanam, V Muraleedharan, Suresh Gopi and George Kurian as Union Ministers saw other leaders turning ambitious and jostling for limelight to grab plum posts leading to bitter rivalry in the party.
At a time when the state is witnessing two assembly and one Parliament by elections, the BJP is surrounded by crises following the sidelining of firebrand leaders Sandeep Warrier and Shobha Surendran. The increase of ratings of these leaders have threatened the future of some leaders in the party. Interestingly, the party’s central leadership has tremendously failed to induce discipline in the party.
Groupism mainstay of Kerala politics
