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Karunakaran shunned
K Karunakaran, a trump card in all polls in the past four decades in Kerala, today looks like a loner, unwanted even by his own colleagues.
Veteran Congress leader K Karunakaran, who has been the trump card in all the elections in the past four decades in Kerala, today looks like a loner, seemingly unwanted even by his own colleagues.
So much so that some Congress candidates have specifically made it clear to the party bosses that they do not want Karunakaran to campaign for them.
One such man is VS Sivakumar, the Congress nominee in this state capital.
"Ask Sivakumar why he is not inviting Karunakaran to address an election meeting, and he will prostrate himself thrice and plead: 'Sir, don't you want me to win?'" said a close aide.
Sivakumar, a non-entity in 1999, was handpicked by Karunakaran to contest the Lok Sabha poll five years ago from Thiruvananthapuram, and his surprise victory surprised even Karunakaran.
Sivakumar had since been one of Karunakaran's trusted followers. But today, like so many others in Kerala, he is distancing himself from the former chief minister.
Indeed, it looks as if the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is going to the polls without Karunakaran.
One reason for this, say Congress sources, is that most party leaders have concluded, rightly or wrongly, that Karunakaran is concerned more about his and family interests, not the party's.
His daughter Padmaja Venugopal is contesting from Mukundapuram while his son K Muraleedharan, after becoming a minister in the government of Chief Minister AK Antony, is contesting a by-election to the Wadakkancherry assembly seat.
V Balaram, who quit the assembly to facilitate Muraleedharan to get elected, has got the Kozhikode Lok Sabha seat to contest.
And Karunakaran has landed in the Rajya Sabha.
Echoing the sentiments of many Congress workers, party leader and six-time MP from Vadakara KP Unnikrishnan lashed out at Karunakaran, accusing him of "using" ordinary workers for personal gains.
"It is time people realised the fact," argued Unnikrishnan.
He did not spare Antony either, saying the new alliance between Karunakaran and Antony was immoral.
Expressing similar feelings but in a veiled manner, Kerala Assembly Speaker Vakkom Purushothaman said that things had reached a stage in the state Congress where party activists were beginning to lose respect for their leaders.
"If the leadership fails to understand this, then they would be isolated by the workers," he said.
And this is already happening to Karunakaran - so it seems.
He does not figure in the list of leaders undertaking the statewide election campaign of the Congress-led UDF. The campaign is led by Antony. It will begin on Tuesday from Kasaragod and concludes here in May.
The magic of Karunakaran appears to no longer work. At age 86, he is cooling his heels at his residence sans the once milling crowds.
Is it the end of the road for Karunakaran? It will depend on the results in Mukundapuram and Wadakkancherry, where both his children are fighting with their backs to the wall.
