Oommen Chandy’s emergence as undisputed leader of Congress

During his tenure as the longest serving legislator of the Kerala Assembly and a minister handling several portfolios, Mr. Chandy was credited with so many achievements. The budget that he presented in 1991 as the Kerala Finance Minister is widely regarded as a milestone in the State’s development.

The electoral loss of 1967 triggered sporadic laments about the Congress’ decline in Kerala. Its representation in the State Assembly had come down to nine out of 133 seats and the party was confronting disturbing questions about its future in the State.

Into that vacuum jumped a new crop of youngsters, under A.K. Antony, Vayalar Ravi and Oommen Chandy, who revived the organisation through a series of protests that rocked the State. What they brought in, as a group, were some distinct perspective that helped restore the reputation of the Congress and alter the political dynamics of Kerala forever.

Over the next few decades, they would go so much together; forming the backbone of the Congress in the State, planning and organising protests against the State administration on various issues and other party activities that saw them leapfrogging into the mainstream politics.

In another three years, Mr. Chandy registered his maiden win from Puthupally in September 1970 and since has emerged as the undisputed leader of the Puthupally. With his ability to maintain composure amidst crisis situations, he also went onto become undisputed leader of the Congress first in Kottayam and then in Kerala as a whole.

Veteran Congress leader and legislator Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan seeks to attribute the meteoric rise of Mr. Chandy within the ranks of the Congress to the leadership skills that he had developed during the Youth Congress days.

“I have seen him standing rock solid in many a difficult situations; while coordinating the Tsunami rescue operations in Karunagappilly, when dealing with the evictees of the Moollampilly island or even when insulted by the opposition in most unseemly fashions. He is always switched on and feels the responsibility for the electorate day and night’’, observed Mr. Radhakrishnan.

But it is his skill of political pragmatism that has inspired Mr. Radhakrishnan to the most. “The way he secured the 302-acre revenue land in Kambakkallu in Idukky, which had long been a camp for marijuana cultivators, and later handed it over to the Forest Department in lieu of the land for constructing a camp for Sabarimala pilgrims, is one among the several examples to be cited’‘, he added.