Chandy frontrunner for CMs post

Initiated into public life during the liberation struggle that led to the dismissal of the first Communist government in Kerala in 1959.

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Initiated into public life during the liberation struggle that led to the dismissal of the first Communist government in Kerala in 1959,senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy looks the natural choice to become the leader of the Congress Legislative Party in the 13th Assembly. As the opposition leader of the coalition for the last five years after the defeat in 2006,he enjoyed the confidence of all its components.

The surprise entry of KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala in the fray and abrupt figuring of his name in connection with decades-old palmolein case had put a question mark over his fate. But as the campaign progressed,senior

party leaders sent clear signals that Chandys leadership is unquestionable this time round.

A leader of the masses,Chandy is known as a politician who loves to open his eyes to a horde of petitioners,a bunch of memorandums and a flood of phone calls morning after morning. It is said that he rarely turns away a petitioner or a request for help.

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Representing Puthuppally constituency in Kottayam for the last four decades,Chandy is affectionately called Kunjoonju by his party workers while the leaders address him as OC.

Although a contemporary of A K Antony,Chandy had remained a key strategist of the Antony group in the past decades when Congress politics was divided between Antony and K Karunakaran factions.

Antonys resignation as chief minister in 2004 helped Chandy,who turns 68 this October,to emerge as the next-generation leader of the party in Kerala. Despite being a longstanding legislator,Chandy had only short three stints as a minister,twice with Karunakaran. Chandys 18-month term as the chief minister from 2004 to 2006 was marked by speed in governance.

Chandy tried to copy Karunakarans swiftness in taking decisions than doing an Antony then known for dragging his feet on every critical issue. As chief minister,Chandy went across the state,conducting mass contact programmes and hearing out the woes of ordinary people.

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Chandy joined politics as a leader of Kerala Students Union,the student outfit of the Congress,in early 1960s. He became the state president of KSU in 1967 and the youth Congress president in 1969. Chandys debut in parliamentary politics was in 1970 from Puthuppally,in his home district Kottayam.

Since then,there was no looking back for Chandy. Puthuppally became synonymous with Chandy and vice-versa. In 2010,the law graduate completed four decades in the Assembly.