Thiruvananthapuram: Less than five months after the Congress-led United Democratic Front swept Kerala with 102 seats in the 140-member Assembly, the government is being tested from within.
Congress leaders have been expressing regret over Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan's style of functioning, with some publicly disowning his decisions, while the UDF has faced criticism over administrative lapses and a lack of collective responsibility.
Controversies have piled up. A helicopter journey by the Chief Minister, sponsored by his friends, made headlines. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and some other ministers went on a foreign tour said to have been sponsored by their friends. A fresh row involved the minister for local self-government, K.M. Shaji of the Indian Union Muslim League, whose unofficial tour of Austria, Bulgaria, Switzerland and the UAE from September 16 to 26, social media posts alleged, was joined by a distillery owner and a builder.
The sharpest flashpoint is the CMRL-Exalogic bribery case. The UDF government is accused of taking a soft approach towards former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family in the High Court. On October 16, Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan walked out of a key party meeting after a heated exchange with the Chief Minister. Former state Congress chief and Kannur MP K. Sudhakaran and UDF convener Adoor Prakash publicly criticised the government's stand, with Sudhakaran saying a strong government should act against Pinarayi.
Health Minister K. Muraleedharan defended the Chief Minister, saying the government had acted legally and that he suspected "hidden agendas". The Pradesh Congress Committee scrapped its social media unit after it posted a demand for the resignation of the Chief Justice of India, and its chief, Power Minister Sunny Joseph, directed leaders to refrain from controversial public statements, saying indiscipline would not be tolerated.
Veteran journalist Sanjeev Ramachandran said the government's image had been damaged not by the Opposition but by internal conflicts within it and the party.