The Congress in Kerala is facing what is perhaps its worst political crisis in recent times. The party is beset with organisational challenges and appears to lack a strategy to confront the ruling CPI(M)-led coalition in the State. It is heavily dependent on the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), its major partner in the United Democratic Front (UDF), for its electoral fortunes in north Kerala. Moreover the Congress leadership has been struggling to take a firm stand on a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The party, which was not invited by the CPI(M) to participate in a seminar against the UCC in Kozhikode, waited anxiously for the decision of the IUML, which was invited. The IUML, which is being wooed by the CPI(M), finally decided not to participate.
There was a glimmer of hope when the Congress Central leadership replaced both the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president shortly after the party’s humiliating defeat in the 2021 Assembly polls. However, the party is back to square one now. Internal conflicts have only been intensifying despite the party not being in power.
In June, the government ordered a preliminary probe against Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan for allegedly mobilising funds from abroad for a rehabilitation project, while the Enforcement Directorate initiated a preliminary investigation into alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Later that month, the police arrested KPCC president K. Sudhakaran in connection with a cheating case involving Monson Mavunkal, who is an accused in a fake antiquities case. Recently, the party was in a fix when MP Hibi Eden proposed that Kerala’s capital be relocated from Thiruvananthapuram to his constituency, Ernakulam, which is centrally located. This provided ammunition to the CPI(M) to attack the Congress. It promptly began a campaign in Thiruvananthapuram saying that the Congress wanted the capital city relocated.
