Why a Congress leader has emerged as Kerala government’s sharpest critic

During the debate on the Budget in the Assembly on Wednesday, Satheesan, who holds the Finance portfolio, said a decision on the sale of low-alcohol content liquor in Kerala would be taken only after deliberation within the United Democratic Front (UDF) government. He also said there was no proposal to allow the mining of mineral sand by private entities and dubbed as “baseless” the stories on the matter.

Not satisfied with the answers, Sudheeran upped the ante. Openly questioning the stand of Satheesan that UDF would take a policy decision on selling beverages with low alcohol content, Sudheeran said, “A decision abandoning the tax proposal should have been announced in the Assembly itself. The proposal should have been first debated within the party as well as the UDF. The UDF manifesto has promised steps against drug abuse and liquor. That word to the people should be fulfilled. When the Finance Bill is presented in the Assembly, it would be better to drop that tax proposal from the Bill.”

Sudheeran also indicated that he does not agree with Satheesan’s reply in the Assembly that private entities would not mine mineral sand, but only engage in value addition. “Pinarayi (government) too had stated in that manner that the mining will not be given to the private sector. The UDF should not go ahead with the anti-people policies of the CPI(M) government. I have the responsibility to see that the Satheesan government does not lose the support of the people,” he told the media.

The Budget had proposed a Southern Kerala Economic Corridor & Rare Earth and Critical Minerals Corridor to tap the critical mineral resources along the coast and rare earth deposits along the coast of southern Kerala to attract space and technology institutions and with the potential of a “blue economy” in mind. A sustainable economy associated with the ocean, seas, and coastal regions is referred to as a blue economy.

Earlier, in his letter to the CM, Sudheeran had said, “The Budget proposal on mineral sand, which will write off the Alappuzha coast to the mineral sand lobby, should be withdrawn. All the orders allowing mining of mineral sand should be withdrawn.’’

Leadership vacuum

Suddheran’s intervention comes at a time when there is a vacuum in the party’s organisational leadership following current state unit president Sunny Joseph’s elevation as electricity minister. Two of the party’s three vice-presidents, A P Anil Kumar and P C Vishnunadh, have also become ministers, leaving a vacuum in the leadership and weakening the party’s ability to guide the government, insiders said. This has made Sudheeran’s dissenting voice ring louder in the political circles.

Congress sources said Sudheeran’s repeated criticism of the government had not only provided ammunition to the CPI(M) but also blunted the UDF’s campaign against the previous Left government’s pro-liquor measures, including its decision to allow low-alcohol-content beverages.

Sudheeran had openly protested against the party-led government in 2014 when it wanted to renew IMFL licences of around 400 bar-attached hotels in Kerala. His stand had plunged the government into a major crisis that troubled then CM Oommen Chandy till he was voted out in 2016.

Sudheeran has been a long-time voice of dissent within the party. His stand against several projects, including the widening of a national highway, however, drew flak from civil society members. From 2014 to 2017, he served as the state Congress president and after that, was a member of the state Congress’s political affairs committee. But he quit the panel after the 2021 Assembly elections due to his strained relationship with the party leadership in Kerala. Since then, he had been almost inactive.

Sudheeran had adopted a confrontational stance on mineral sand mining during the 2001-’06 Congress government led by A K Antony. Despite being Antony’s confidant in those days, he led an aggressive campaign against mineral sand mining on the southern coast. At the time, the mining portfolio was with the Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML) P K Kunhalikutty. The IUML leader holds the mining and industries departments in the current government, too.

The 78-year-old joined politics via the Congress’s student wing, Kerala Students’ Union. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977 and returned to state politics three years later, getting elected to the Assembly in 1980. He remained in the Assembly till 1996, when he again became a Lok Sabha MP. He lost the 2004 parliamentary election.