KOCHI, Aug 1: On August 6, the Howrah Express will chug off from Kerala with five special bogies full of Congress workers bound for Calcutta where the party's plenary session is to be held from August 8 to 10.

However, what these Congressmen from Kerala are expected to do in Calcutta remains a mystery. It is almost certain that a majority of them are unlikely to even get entry passes to watch the proceedings of the session.

Apart from 1,600-odd All India Congress Committee (AICC) members, the multi-tier shamiana is to accommodate nearly 7,000 delegates comprising newly-elected Pradesh Congress Committee members and an equal number of observers consisting of DCC members, district office-bearers and leaders of feeder organisations.

But where do the partymen from Kerala figure in this scheme of things? Owing to rampant groupism, organisational elections have not been held in the State. Consequently, only a handful of AICC members from Kerala will attend the session, including senior party leader K Karunakaran, KPCC president Vayalar Ravi, P C Chacko, A C Jose and Ramesh Chennithala, who were elected to the AICC on Thursday, and A K Antony who is an AICC member in his capacity as the State Parliamentary Party leader.

The rest of the crowd from Kerala, according to present indications, can neither take part in the deliberations nor watch the proceedings except perhaps from the backbenches to be reserved for the proteges of leaders from various States.

Some leaders of the Antony group and the third group apprehend that the five bogies have been at the behest of Karunakaran group leaders and that the party workers taken to Calcutta would mostly comprise Karunakaran group activists with the specific purpose of drumming up support for their leader on the eve of the election to Congress Working Committee slated for August 9.

After it was made known in Delhi on Thursday that only five MPs from Kerala would be given berth in the AICC from the MPs' quota, there was a serious tussle between P C Chacko (a Karunakaran loyalist) and P J Kurien (Antony supporter) over who should withdraw the nomination out of the six nominations filed from Kerala. It was after much persuasion by the Antony group leaders that Kurien withdrew from the fray.

Of the six AICC members from Kerala, the group-wise break-up is thus: Karunakaran group: three (Karunakaran, Ravi and Chacko); Anthony group two (Antony and A C Jose) and the third group: one (Ramesh). Since the last two groups are acting in concert, the fragile balance between the two main groupings has been maintained.

The next crucial phase in the factional warfare is the race for membership of the all-powerful CWC. It is quite likely that Karunakaran, who has been elected to the AICC, would seek election to the CWC to regain his lost clout in the party. As things look now, Kerala may have two nominees on the CWC of which one may be nominated by party president Sitaram Kesri and one may have to get elected.

It is understood that A K Antony is averse to contesting to the CWC and he may, in all likelihood, be nominated by Kesri, considering the good equation between the two. In that case, the third group leader Ramesh Chennithala would contest and in view of his close rapport with the North Indian lobby in the party, particularly the young brigade, he is quite likely to muster enough support for his smooth election to the CWC.

Where does that leave Karunakaran? Kesri had stated in a recent interview that he would like to infuse `young blood' into the CWC, which is interpreted as a clear signal to old guards like Karunakaran still cherishing political ambitions.

Karunakaran's rivals back home reckon that if Antony and Ramesh are elected to the CWC and Karunakaran kept out of it, they could break the backbone of the Karunakaran group in Kerala. Hence, the loyalists are more than anxious to orchestrate support for him at the AICC session on the eve of the CWC election, as a last-ditch attempt to resurrect the leader, who is down, but not out.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.