K.M. Mani, many time Finance Minister in the Kerala government, who leads an eponymous faction of the Kerala Congress, may have just sounded the bugle for political realignments ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Kerala Congress (Mani) pulled off a minor coup on Wednesday in its stronghold of Kottayam, when it teamed up with arch rival CPI(M) to nominate its candidate as president of the district panchayat.
SOURING OF RELATIONS
In the process, he masterminded the defeat of their opponent from the Congress, likely signalling the end of a time-tested friendship with the United Democratic Front (UDF) that it leads.
Contrary to his feigned innocence, Mani's move is a well-thought one and has been in the coming since relations with the UDF soured and the two parties traded exchanges in the bar bribery case involving him.
Critics are of the view that the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front could well have offered some quid pro quo in the matter, in order to delay proceedings to somehow protect Mani's interests.
This, according to them, explains the background to the 'engineered quake' in the political landscape in Kottayam, the shock waves of which could well travel to all parts of the state.
TURNS 'SUITABLE BOY'
Mani's hobnobbing with the LDF would have been unthinkable in normal times, especially after the latter's protests in the House two years ago when he sought to present a record-breaking 13th budget.
Ever since, the CPI(M) and the LDF had engaged in a witch hunt against him, pointing towards him as the fountain of all corruption in the then UDF cabinet.
A shocked Congress leadership in the state is now questioning the LDF as to how Mani, who it had suspected of owning a note-counting machine at home, had turned a 'suitable boy' overnight.
Mani has maintained that it was the Congress that forced his party unit to look for other options, after subjecting it to humiliation and blackmailing in Kottayam.
He had not thought of 'switching sides' as is being alleged. "What happened in Kottayam is purely local. Adducing other motives to it is uncalled for," is his weak but consistent defence.
'SHOW CPI ITS PLACE'
For the CPI(M) and the LDF though, Mani and his party's six-member block in the Assembly is a necessary evil, if only to show its increasingly recalcitrant ally CPI its place.
Led by Kanam Rajendran, its astute and tough-talking state secretary, the CPI has been fighting a war from within against the 'authoritarian style' of governance by the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government.
Its leaders have taken on 'big brother' CPI(M) for a litany of omissions and commissions, not least when it decided to partner with the Kerala Congress (Mani) to 'hatch a despicable plot' in Kottayam.
Its lone member in the 22-member district panchayat had publicly disassociated from voting for the Kerala Congress (Mani) candidate and abstained from voting.
Senior CPI leader Pannian Ravindran went on record saying that nobody in the LDF had been assigned the task of recruiting new members into the coalition without mentioning the Mani-led party.
ALL'S NOT WELL WITH MANI
Meanwhile, not all seems well in the Kerala Congress (Mani) after the overnight media glare it invoked following the 'coup' it engineered in Kottayam.
The erstwhile P.J. Joseph-led faction in the party has already aired the view that this is a 'strictly local matter' and need not lead to futile discussions on likely ramifications for the state.
Mons Joseph, a former minister and a Joseph acolyte, told newspersons that the Kottayam issue was not discussed by the part at the state-level.
K.M. Mani himself toed this line, but speculation is rife that Jose K. Mani, Mani's son and MP from Kottayam, was the principal architect of the operation.
Jose K Mani is reported to have made himself unavailable in the state and has chosen to travel overseas after pulling strings in the background.
It remains to be seen if Mani's party would be able to huddle all its MLAs together, especially after reports emerged that at least half the members were not entirely happy with the developments in Kottayam.