In Comrade Karat’s country, BJP holds all aces

Last week’s local bodies poll had thrown up a conundrum in Palakkad municipality. The UDF, ruling since 1997, scraped through with 16 seats this time—the same as the Left (16) and its ally, Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) (1). The BJP, which had only 8 seats in the previous poll, became the largest single party bagging 17 seats—the first time it topped a local body poll in the state.

With the BJP and the Left combine sharing 17 seats each, it should have meant a tie, and the usual toss for sharing terms. But the BJP does not have a candidate for the Municipal chairman’s office—reserved this term for the Scheduled Castes.

And, the Left and the UDF cannot afford to be seen in BJP company in Kerala. Not when slamming the BJP, and accusing each other of underhand deals with it, is a campaign plank.

The CPI(M), incidentally, had held the municipality from 1991 to 1996 with tacit BJP support. But the BJP was not a big campaign pivot for either then, and did not command the 12.5 per cent vote share it now does.

The BJP had always declared the LDF as the bigger devil of the two. But what gives it some manipulative elbow room here is that three of its councillors are independents—no one can stop them from voting for the UDF. The wary UDF has now declared that it will abstain from voting. But the LDF is not buying that. ‘‘We are going to contest. We are not blind to the possibility that the three BJP independants will turn around and vote for the UDF at the last minute, to keep us out,’’ says Paloli Mohemmed Kutty, state convenor of the Left Front. ‘‘(But) if we end up in a position of having to share power with the BJP, we would certainly go for dissolution of the council,’’ he added.

Senior BJP leader and former Union minister O Rajagopal, deputed to sort out the stalemate, told Express: ‘‘We are talking to the two fronts through mediators.’’ The LDF and UDF did not want to confirm that, though. ‘‘We are ready to share power with either…But both the fronts are aiming to get the council dissolved.”

BJP state chief P.S. Sreedharan Pillai sees another possibility: Muslim League heavyweight P.K. Kunhalikutty had hinted his party may support the LDF against the BJP. Five of the 16 UDF members in the deadlocked council are Muslim Leaguers.