In a stunning political realignment that has sent shockwaves through Kerala, members of the Congress party in a village panchayat resigned en masse and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to keep the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) out of power. The incident at Mattathur panchayat in Thrissur district has ignited a fierce political debate, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accusing the Congress of enabling the BJP's agenda.
The Dramatic Power Play in Mattathur
Elections for the posts of president and vice-president of the Mattathur panchayat were held on Friday, a process that determines which coalition controls the local governing body. The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) was the single largest bloc with 10 seats in the 24-member panchayat. The Congress had eight members, the BJP had four, and two Congress rebels who contested as Independents had also won.
In a move that altered the calculus minutes before the election, the eight Congress members resigned from the party. They then backed one of the Congress rebels, who was fielded by the BJP, for the president's post. With the support of these defectors and its own four members, the BJP-led alliance secured a majority. The rebel candidate, Tessy Joseph, was elected president. Furthermore, one of the Congress members who quit the party was elected vice-president with BJP backing.
Political Fallout and Sharp Reactions
The development prompted an immediate and sharp reaction from Kerala's ruling CPI(M). Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to social media platform X on Sunday to condemn the event. He stated that the incident "reveals a vicious trend" of Congress members joining hands with the BJP to seize power.
Vijayan warned that this "politics of turncoats directly strengthens the Sangh Parivar's project by normalising defections and eroding democratic mandates." He pointed to similar occurrences in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, and Puducherry, suggesting they fuel the BJP's ambitions in Kerala. The CM ended his post with a call to action, demanding that the Congress leadership "must respond clearly to this dangerous drift." The CPI(M) also revived its political refrain, claiming "Today's Congress is tomorrow's BJP."
On the ground, the Congress party acted swiftly against the defectors. Joseph Tajet, the Congress district committee president, announced on Sunday that the eight elected members and the two rebels were suspended from the party's primary membership on charges of defection. He confirmed that a whip was issued to the members, who violated it by allying with the BJP. The party plans to move the Election Commission against them for violating the anti-defection law.
Justifications and Counter-Claims
The newly elected panchayat president, Tessy Joseph, defended the move. She told the media that the BJP members likely voted for them due to their opposition to the CPI(M). She accused the Left front of wanting to retain power to "cover up the corruption of their previous regime" and stated their attempt was to counter that, which eventually garnered BJP support.
From the BJP's side, a senior leader from Thrissur, B Gopalakrishnan, offered a different perspective. He claimed the CPI(M) itself attempted horse-trading by fielding a Congress rebel as its presidential candidate. Regarding the Congress members who quit, he said they had approached the BJP for support. "We put forward the demand that the Congress members should quit the party. When they quit the Congress, we embraced them," Gopalakrishnan stated.
Broader Implications for Kerala's Politics
This incident at the grassroots level is being viewed as a microcosm of the larger, complex political equations forming in Kerala. It highlights the intense competition where keeping the principal opponent out can sometimes trump traditional ideological boundaries. For the BJP, which has been striving to make inroads into Kerala's bipolar political landscape dominated by the LDF and the Congress-led UDF, such alliances offer a strategic foothold.
For the Congress, the episode represents a significant embarrassment and a challenge to its disciplinary machinery. It also provides ammunition to the CPI(M)'s long-standing accusation that the Congress is an unreliable bulwark against the BJP. The swift suspension of the members indicates the party's attempt to control the narrative and demonstrate zero tolerance for such defections.
The use of the anti-defection law in local body politics and the potential appeal to the Election Commission will be the next legal fronts in this political battle. The Mattathur episode underscores how local panchayat elections, often seen as hyper-local affairs, can ignite state-wide political storms and redefine alliances in India's most politically literate state.
