The Janata Dal (S) [JD(S)] in Kerala appeared to edge closer to a split that might be politically consequential in some measure for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
JD(S) national vice-president C.K. Nanu appeared riled that the party’s State president Mathew T. Thomas, MLA, had urged a boycott of the national executive that was convened in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
Mr. Nanu said the national executive had resolved to call a national council meeting of the party in Bengaluru on December 9 to preserve the party’s unity and chart a future course of action.
Opposed to Gowda
After the meeting, national executive member C.M. Ibrahim said the party would withdraw its Minister in the LDF Cabinet if Mr. Thomas and Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty declined to attend the Bengaluru meet. Mr. Ibrahim, who chaperoned the national executive meeting, has emerged as the face of the estranged JD(S) faction opposed to the decision of H.D. Deve Gowda, the party’s national president, to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Many JD(S) State committee members had reportedly shunned the national executive summoned by Mr. Nanu. They said the party’s State committee had met in Kozhikode last week. The meeting did not authorise a summoning of the national executive. They viewed the move as a one-upmanship game by Mr. Nanu’s faction to assert supremacy over the JD(S) State committee when the party faced an existential crisis triggered by Mr. Gowda’s “defection” to the NDA.
Mr. Nanu told reporters that he had merely attempted to save the party in Kerala by summoning the national executive to chart a clear path forward. “Responsible leaders like Mr. Krishnankutty and Mr. Thomas are not doing anything to mitigate the crisis,” he said.
Bid to persuade
The JD(S) national council in Bengaluru will likely try to keep the organisation intact by persuading the Gowda faction to abandon the pro-NDA line. The national council will weigh the pros and cons of forming a new party that adheres to the Janata movement’s founding values espoused by Ram Manohar Lohia and Mahatma Gandhi. Mr. Nanu’s faction claimed nine national executive members and 11 JD(S) State unit presidents attended the meeting.
