| Back to the main page | Trichur District Betrayed by UDF/CongressMay 25,2001 For the first time since 1957 there is no minister from Trichur District! This is in spite of the fact that UDF got 12 out of 14 seats in the district and Congress won all but one seats it contested. 12 MLAs out 99 UDF MLAs should make Trichur eligible for 2 ministers. The cultural capital of Trichur is the adopted home of Karaunakaran for four decades. The district has also got the distinction of the least communal of all the places in Kerala. Minister posts have been divided and horsetraded on all kinds of caste, creed, religious and regional basis. Parties with 1-2 MLAs , parties which cannot even deposit back (if stood alone) have got minister posts. No criteria have been followed in allotting ministers except the standard cheap tactics and bargains. Even Muslim Leage allotted 3 of their 4 ministers to Malappuram! PKK Bhava recaptured the prestigious Guruvayoor seat, but has been sidelined! Y¦-m¥-j¢-c®
Ì¡c-h¢-¿¡-· gjX« CY¡-a¬« (Kerala Kaumudi, 25 May 2001) At the same time KeralaKaumudi's Elections Results does not even mention Trichur as a district! Many Trichur Constituencies are also missing frome the detailed list!
Karunakaran's Crocodile tears for Trichur! Mathrubhumi writes: oô-ù Qï-kë-iêi ¥-ò-jï-Eú h-Ôï-o-g-iïv ‹ê-Yï-Eï-báù lê-Ÿï-öJê-Tñ-¼êu J-rï-iê-Œ-Yï-kñù -A-÷‰-p-Œï-Eú Jñ-Xõï-Y-hñ-ûú.- ÷Y-s-œïv jê-h-Ç-nå-öE-÷iê oê-lï-¦ï k-&ä-X-öE-÷iê-¼ê-qñ-d-jï dï.- m-Ë-j-öE -h-Ôï-iê-¼êu Eït-f-‡ï-Y-Eê-i-Yñ-öJê-ûê-Xú ¥-òt dï--È-ödç-ˆñ-÷dê-i-Yú.- Kerala Forum Comments: Prof Savithri Lakshmanan, though not having any early Congress background, would have been an acceptable choice. Professor has never lost an election (2 wins for Lok Sabha too). It satisfies the need for a female minister. But Karunakaran is not happy that Professor did not unilaterally forefeit her seat in favour of the leader's daughter! In fact Adv P Sankaran just did that earlier for a Lok Sabha seat in Calicut and is rewarded now with a minister post! This being the case, the newspapers are competing to be in the good list of UDF govt. Many are shedding tears for Oommen Chandy and writing about his sacrifices! Oommen Chandy became minister first in 1977, 24 years ago! Mathrubhumi says 1977 v J-jñ-Xê-J-ju,- Bus-Xï h-Ôï-o-g-J-qïv öYê-rïv l-Jñ-dçñ-h-Ôï-iê-iï-jñ-ªñ.- 1981 v -B-gá--j-h-Ôï-iñù.- 1991 v b-Eh-Ôï-iê-iñù ‹-lt-Œï-Oþï-ˆñ-ûú.- 1994 v J-jñ-Xê-J-ju h-Ôï-o-g-iïv Eï-ªñ-jê-Qï-l-Oþ D˜u-Oê-ûï A-Yï-Eñ-÷m-nù -h-Ôï-o-g-iï-÷kê dêt-ˆï-iï-÷kê d-a-lï-J-öqê-ªñù l-pï-Oþï-ˆï-kë. Well with 30 years monopoly as MLA and minister in four ministries, why does Mr Chandy wants to be a minister again? Afterall he resigned the post last time? Oommen Chandy became MLA when he was barely 25 and now the same man is trying his level best to make sure that no one else comes up as a leader in Kottayam District! If at all anything, Oommen Chandy should have been the Chief Minister! How did Trichur land up in such a situation?Ever since Karunakaran got elected from Mala in 1967 Trichur became his adopted home. No one objected. It is fair to say that in the beginning Karunakaran did stand for the district, especially for his constituency. Prominent Congress leaders in Trichur Town (like C.C.George) joined the offical Congress against Mrs Gandhi. A young V.M.Sudheeran became KSU President in 1971 or 72. Obviously V.M.Sudheeran was going to be the future leader of Congress in Trichur. But this was not to be. Not only Karunakaran several vested interests within Congress did not want that to happen.Obvious choice for Sudheeran to be an MLA was Manaloor or Nattika. Sudheeran made his debut in Manaloor defeating his former leader, Congress (N) N.I.Devassykkutty. Sudheeran got elected another 3 times here. Soon the plan to pack off Sudheeran from Trichur materialized. Manaloor was given to Rosamma Chacko (imported from Kottayam!) and Sudeeran was asked to stand against the young Marxist sitting MP TK Angelose in Alleppy! Angelose had earlier defeated Vakkom Purushothaman when he was barely 26! The 'hope' within Congress was that Sudheeran would lose and end his political future there. But Sudheeran won. Then won again and again! Though the manipulations within Congress did not end Sudheeran's political career, his hold on Trichur was lost! He was no longer the leader of Trichur! So when other ex-KSU presidents monopoloized constituencies and districts (Oommen Chandy, MM Hassam, Neela Lohithadas etc) Sudheeran was not able to do so. There seems to be unwritten rule that such 'monopoly' is reserved for mainly leaders in Travancore and Malappuram! Congress leaders in Travancore area, Kerala Congress, RSP and Leage and other 1-2 man parties are allowed to keep such monopoly. But not one person in Trichur District! Congress leaders even imported P.C.Chacko to stand in Trichur as MP, as if there are no able Congressmen in Trichur! The net result of all these was that there was no proper leader for Congress in Trichur district. Third class candidates like Sidharthan Kattungal and Jose Thanikkal (who as a KTP man has thrown stones against Jawahar Jyothi of KSU in front of Krishnan Nairs Studio in Trichur in 1965!) were fielded and they all lost. The district which was a stronghold of Congress even in the worst days of 1967, ended up in the pockets of LDF which bagged 9 out of 14 in 1996! CPI which won't get even deposit if stood alone won many seats. Today when Trichur is finally back in Congress pockets, there is no leader who can be called the voice of Trichur! Out of 14 seats, LDF won only 2. Congress won 9. Of the other UDF seats only in Guruvayoor League has some votes. Both in Kodungallor (JSS) and Irinjalakkuda (KC-M) it is pure Congress votes. KC-M and JSS won't even get deposit in either of the Constituencies. |
