Thiruvananthapuram, April 7: Tracing the history of the Congress party in Kerala in the past five decades, there have been only three tall leaders and it included K. Karunakaran, A.K. Antony and Oommen Chandy, who have been Chief Minister’s on nine different occasions from 1977 to 2016.
Over time it has now become difficult for even those born with the silver spoon to come up in the party and that’s what has been seen with the political growth of the children of these tall leaders.
Their children, after seeing what power means and what it brings, have only followed their fathers’ career and the first one who was fielded was Karunakaran’s son — K. Muraleedharan.
Muraleedharan, when he was aged 32 in 1989, Karunakaran at that time was the unquestioned Congress leader in Kerala and fielded him to the Lok Sabha from the Kozhikode seat. With this he made a grand entry into politics.
And after that Muraleedharan won three Lok Sabha elections and twice was a party legislator.
But in between, when Karunakaran’s grip in the party weakened Antony took over with the total support of Chandy and this led to problems within the party. The father-son duo in 2005 floated a new party, which was later merged with the NCP in Kerala — an ally of the CPI(M)-led Left.
Karunakaran by then had become weak and passed away in 2010.
But, with Muraleedharan finding the going tough in the Left, he returned to the Congress and won the 2011 Assembly polls.
Unlike Muraleedharan, Antony’s two sons never took to full time politics as they were busy with their own careers. But Anil Antony, the elder son of Antony, an engineer by profession made a backdoor entry into Congress politics by deciding to be part of the IT Cell at the state and national level.
He never forayed into the typical political activity which is quintessential for being a frontline leader, and hence was never seen where aspiring political workers are normally seen. Hence his entry into the BJP, according to many seasoned Congress veterans, is a mistake.
Similarly if one looks into Chandy’s son — Chandy Oommen — till now he has had a ‘start-stop’ political career.
Though at one point of time he was active in the student and youth wing of the party, then he moved his base to Delhi to take up the legal profession. He returned after Chandy developed health issues and stayed put in the state capital.
While many were asking why Chandy Oommen is not entering into active full time politics instead of having a start-stop political career, came the news that he is going to be a full time member of the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Through this Yatra, junior Chandy has probably stamped his mark that he is ready for full time politics and with his father’s health deteriorating further. Its only a matter of time when he will make his debut in electoral politics and the only question is will it be in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls or would it be at 2026 Assembly polls.
Veteran media critic A. Jayasankar said the biggest problem of these children of the top Congress veterans is they have only seen the successful phase of their father’s.
“All know how hard it was for Karunakaran, Antony and Chandy, who had to weather many a storm within their party and from outside to emerge as the top most leaders of their times. Their children, even Muraleedharan have not faced tough times as everything came to them on a platter. Even when Muraleedharan became a nobody in politics, it was the tag of Karunakaran and the Congress party, that he managed to salvage his political career and now has made it to the top.
“Anil’s moving towards the BJP is not going to make an impact, and junior Oommen is yet to test the muddy political waters as he continues to be in the shadow of his father. In today’s times, things are very difficult and only time will tell what’s going to be the future of Anil and Oommen,” said Jayasankar.
