The Travancore State Congress had come into existence on February 1938, under the president ship of Shri Pattom Thannu Pillai. Shri .K.M. Chandy entered the politics of Travancore in 1938 itself at the age of 17. The Travancore social and economic life was highly pathetic. Agriculture was the main economic occupation. The society was fragmented into religious, communal and on caste basis. Communities were further divided into sub castes. Though agriculture was the main income generating trade, the peasants who worked in the land had no ownership of the land. The ownership of the land belonged to religious institutions (temple property belonged Malayali Brhamins), and royal families. The artisans and scheduled castes/tribes had no rights. Various agitations, which had taken place in the state, had the only one aim of securing special rights for each community. Only dominant communities could obtain some concessions from the rulers. A major section of Hindu community had been left without any rights. Hence, the communal fragmentation continued. The struggle for economic and social reformation initiated by the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi had little impact on the Travancore politics. Shri. Chandy was an voracious reader of world history and literature. He had in depth knowledge about British parliamentary democratic history, American Revolution, French revolution and Communist revolution of Soviet Russia. He had earned for social, economical and political restructuring of the society with equitable opportunity for all, irrespective community and creed. In 1947 when the country became independent, royal reverence/worship was highly prevalent in Travancore. Many people in the State Congress were not an exemption. State Congress had no idea of future course of action. Shri. Chandy and a number of young Congress leaders had demanded for joining the Indian union. In September 1947 the new Divan in charge formed a fifteen member reforms committee to create a new Constitution for the state and to suggest constitution of a representative legislature. Some of the state Congress leaders and community leaders were nominated to the committee. Mean while, State Congress committee had a meeting at Thiruvanathapuram to make suitable amendments to the constitution of the organization in the changed circumstances. Mr.Chandy moved an amendment on the objectives of the State Congress. In the objectives of the organization it had been stated that the State Congress would strive for a responsible Government under sovereign Maharaja. This meant that still Maharaja had all powers vested under him. Shri. Chandy had proposed that the objective had to be amended to ‘a sovereign government elected by the people of Travancore. As he had moved the amendment, Shri Pattom Thannu Pillai refused permission. People like Shri P.T. Chacko and host of others vehemently supported it. Finally Shri Pattom agreed to discuss it. In his speech Mr. Chandy had pointed out that the Royal rule was not indispensable. He had drawn examples of king Charles of England; royal family of France during French revolution and emperor Czar of Russia during Communist revolution. When time for the voting on the resolution came; it was clear a deep division within the organization would result. Shri T.M.Varghese had intervened and talked with young leaders; voting had been postponed. Shri Pattom Thannu Pillai was a man of integrity and honesty, but his conservative attitude was the obstacle. Shri Pattom had viewed Shri . Chandy’s ‘action as an immature reactions of a young man.
The time had arrived for selecting congress candidates for new assembly. Shri Pattom had objected for inclusion of Shri .Chandy’s name citing his young age and immaturity. Shri R.V. Thomas after consulting Meenachil Taluk Congress committee had suggested Mr. Chandy’s name and finally Shri Pattom agreed. The constitutional reforms committee had recommended for a 120 member assembly with 40% seats reserved on the basis of caste and community with provision of plural voting system. Shri.K.M. Chandy and Shri P.K. Kumaranachary had been elected from Poonjar constituency unopposed. Shri. R.V. Thomas, Shri Chrian J. Kappen, and Shri P.S. Gopala Pillai had been also elected unopposed. Except in one case all Congress candidates had been elected. Some Muslim league members (9), and Tamil Nadu congress members (15) were also got elected from constituencies, where congress did not offer contest. Shri. Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai, Shri R. Sanker and Shri. Tharithu Kunji Thoman had got congress ticket on the basis of their communal backing. This had serious repercussion on the Travancore future politics and the congress; since they had not given up their communal loyalties. On 14th March 1948 the first people’s ministry of Travancore had come into existence; Shri Pattom Thannu Pillai had become the Prime minister of Travancore. Shri. T.M. Varghese and shri C. Kesavan had become ministers in the cabinet. shri. A.J. John had become the President of the state legislative assembly. As the preparation for constitution was progressing the decision for joining Indian Union came. Cochin Kingdom had already decided to join the Union and sent Shri Panampilly Govinda Menon to the Constituent Assembly. Soon the assembly had proposed the names of Shri. Pattom Thannu Pillai, Shri. R.V. Thomas, Shri. R. Sanker, Shri. P.S. Nataraja Piillai, Shri E. John Philipose, and Shri. P.T.Chacko to the Constituent Assembly of the Indian Union.
Shri. Chandy had high respect for Shri Pattom Thannu Pillai. Shri Pattom was the superior leader of the State Congress and he was honest and sincere. His orthodox views on government functioning had created problems for the newly formed democratic ministry. The beurocracy had impressed upon the Prime minister that the government under the new regime was a mere continuation of the old Divan rule and the Prime minister had absolute executive powers. Vested interests had formed a ring around prime minister and had started influencing the government decisions. Shri. Pattom had become in accessible for his cabinet colleagues and his party legislatures. He had taken decisions on matters concerning the department under other ministers without their knowledge. He had seldom heard the views of other senior Congress leaders. The matters had moved in the direction of destroying collective responsibility and democratic principles. Shri Pattom had expanded his ministry without consulting cabinet and the Party. Though new ministers were respectable and deserving personalities, the manner in which they were appointed irked most of the congress leaders.
Another two incidents had further created dissatisfaction among the congress men. The Congress men had longed to erect a suitable memorial at Thiruvanathapuram for Shri Swadeshambhimani K.Ramakrishana Pillai, who had been exiled from Travancore. Shri Ramakrishnapillai had fought for democratic rule in early twentieth century before the advent of ‘The Travancore State Congress’. His properties and the Press he published had been confiscated by the government and he had been exiled to Malabar. He died at Kannur. The Congress leaders had requested to the Prime minister to grant two cents of land in Secretariat compound to cremate the mortal remains of Shri K Ramakrishana Pillai and erect a statue of Shri Ramakrishana Pillai. Shri Pattom had rejected outright this request, which had hurt the sentiments and pained all congress men. In Malabar the most respected and veteran Congress leader Shri K Kellappan and other leaders had started a movement for the formation of the united Kerala state with in the Indian Union, merging princely states of Travancore and Cochin with Malabar region of Madras presidency. Shri K. Kellappan was the president of ‘United Kerala movement’ and K. A. Damodra Menon was the secretary. Shri K. Kellappan and K.A. Damodra Menon along with Shri Jose Kalluvellil had arrived at Thiruvanathapuram for canvassing support from the new ministry and the State Congress leaders. The state legislative members under the leader ship of Shri R.V.Thomas had given a warm welcome and evening tea party. Shri Pattom had been invited for the tea party. He had refused to attend the reception. The Congress leaders had entrusted Shri.Chandy to take this well respected leaders to Shri Pattom. He had got permission for meeting the Prime minister but they had to wait at prime minister’s residence. During this time several government officials were allowed to enter the prime ministers room and leave. This was an insult on well respected leaders. Shri Kellappan was considered to be the ‘Kerala Gandhi’. When Pattom was about to leave his residence, they were called to his room and Shri Pattom did not express any warmth. His approaches to these respected leaders were very cold and he hurriedly left the room. Shri.Chandy felt very sad. He sent a resolution to the state congress committee asking Shri Pattom to relieve the post of Party president. Shri Pattom was holding the post of the Prime minister (parliamentary party leader) and the president of State Congress. Anger among the senior congress leaders had been simmering on the behavior of the Prime minister towards the veteran congress leaders. The senior Congress leaders had decided to take up the matter in next State Congress committee meeting and decided to ask Shri Pattom to leave the post of the party president, while concentrating on Prime ministers duties. Several senior congress leaders had met at Padmana Ashram of Shri Kumbalath Sankunni Pillai and had resolved to request Shri Pattom to change his style of functioning. Prof:chandy’s resolution at congress committee was his personal resolution without any other person’s signature. However, another resolution with the same demand signed by 64 members was presented in the State Congress Committee. Shri Pattom asked members for moving the resolutions and none stood up, then Shri Pattom called Shri .Chandy to move his resolution. Shri.Chandy moved both resolutions and spoke. Shri Pattom had remarked that these resolutions amounted to lack confidence in his leadership. Prof: Chandy reiterated that their intension was the continuation of Shri Pattom and at the same time he could be relieved of party functions so that he could devote more time for governance. Shri Pattom instead of allowing a discussion dissolved meeting, met Maharaja and submitted resignation of the ministry. Shri. Pattom had also resigned from the primary membership of party and joined Praja Socialist Party (PSP). Shri Pattom had become first opposition leader of Travancore state assembly. The Pattom ministry had lasted only eight months and had resigned on 10th October 1948.
The resignation of Shri Pattom Thannu Pillai had shocked the state congress. They had expected him to desist from the autocratic tendencies and function within the democratic norms of collective responsibilities and consultations. Next day’s News papers had reported that a non confidence motion had been moved against Pattom ministry in the state Congress and the ministry had been forced to resign. There was no truth in this. Those days communication facilities were very poor. News papers depended on brief communication they got through telegrams or some other means. Telephone connectivity was very poor, and telex and fax services were not in place. Certain news papers with communal agenda had devised this opportunity to fan communal feelings in public. They had alleged that the Christian lobby and anti Nair lobby in the congress under the leadership of T.M. Varghese with the help of Shri Kumblam, Shri C.Kesvan and Shri T.K. Naryana Pillai had managed to remove Shri Pattom. However, Shri Pattom had neither heeded their allegations nor he supported them. The State Congress committee after long consultation had elected Shri C. Kesvan as president of the state congress committee and Shri T.K Narayana Pillai as the parliamentary party leader. A new ministry under shri T.K. Narayana Pillai took oath on 23rd October 1948. Shri A. J. John, Shri K.R Elangath, Shri N. Kunjuraman, Dr. E.K. Madavan and O.V. Markose had joined the ministry. Shri R.V. Thomas had become the speaker of the assembly as shri A.J John joined the cabinet.
As the British left India, the Princely states of British India had to join either Indian union or Pakistan. The Princely states had formed an organization called ‘Narendra Madalam’. The Narendra mandalam had demanded that their Princely State identity be maintained even after they joined the Indian union or Pakistan. The great Shri Sardar Patel had viewed it highly dangerous as it would undermine the democratic rule. He had started discussion with the Princely heads with the assistance of home secretary Shri V.P. Menon. Shri V.P.Menon had successfully merged several north Indian Princely kingdoms to provinces. He had initiated discussion with the Travancore Maharaja and made him to agree for merger of the Cochin and the Travancore states into Travancore-Cochin State (Thiirukochi). The Maharaja of Travancore had entered into the covenant of merger with Cochin on 8th June 1949. Under this agreement Maharaja had become the Rajapramukh (equivalent of state Governor) of Travancore Cochin State and Maharaja of Cochin would retire getting Privy Purse. Shri Chandy’s dream of his native land becoming a part of united India had thus fulfilled.
In 1949 after the merger of Travancore and Cochin princely states to the Indian Union the State Congress of Travancore and the ‘Praja Mandalam’ of Cochin had merged with the Indian National Congress. This had effected structural and organizational change within the congress leadership of the state. In Travancore communal considerations had affected the selection of the candidates for congress ticket. Hence, many deserving congress men’s names had been omitted in the list of first assembly election of Travancore. Catholic congress leader Shri Tharithu Kunji Thoman, Nair Service Society leader Shri Mannathu Padmanabhva Pillai, and Ezhava community leader Shri R Sanker had secured their congress tickets on the basis of pressures from their respective communities. The Cochin Praja Mandalam had more national orientation and the ideals Indian National congress had influenced its leaders. Gandhians like Inkkanda Varrier, , educational experts like L.M.Paili, Shri Alexander Parmbithara, Progressive thinkers like Shri Sahodaran Ayappan and shri Panampilly Govinda Menon, were stalwarts of Praja Mandalam and they were members of the Cochin legislative assembly. Shri A.M. Thomas, Shri K. Karunakaran, Shri M.K. Menon and Shri T.P Seetharaman were the youth members of the Cochin assembly. Shri K.P. Madhavan Nair had given organizational support and intellectual orientation to the Praja Mandalam. Among the legislators from the Travancore Shri Pattom Thannu Pillai, Shri T.M.Varghese, Shri Nataraja Pillai, Mannathu Pandamanabha Pillai, Shri R. Sanker and Shri Tharithu Kunji Thomman had conservative views on labour problems, social reforms and land reforms. The communal organizations like NSS. SNDP, and Catholic Congress had though officially declared that they left political activity; had still continued to exert pressure on the government.
The merger of Travancore and Cochin provinces into Travancore-Cochin state had required constitution of a new legislative assembly. Soon the two existing assemblies were merged into the Travancore-Cochin assembly. Shri T.K Narayana Pillai had become the parliamentary party leader of the congress in the newly constituted legislative assembly. On July 1st 1949 the new ministry with Shri T.K Narayan Pillai Chief minister, Shri A.J John, Dr.E.K Madhavan, Shri T.O Abdullah, (Travancore) Shri Inkkanda Varier, Shri, K. Ayyappan and Shri Pannampilly Govinda Menon (Cochin) as ministers, had taken oath. Shri R.V Thomas had resigned speaker post. He had been appointed as member of newly constituted “Public Service Commission. Soon the new ministry had to be re constituted within a week due to communal pressures and protest of political leaders, who had expected berth in the cabinet. In the cabinet Shri N. Kunjuraman, Shrimati Anne Mascreen and Shri E. Jhon Philipose had been included and Dr.E.K Madhavan had been dropped. The T.K. Narayana Pillai ministry had faced problem from within the ruling party. Both Shri Mannathu Pandamanabha Pillai and R. Sanker had started raising communal issues citing their eviction from Devasom Board. They had formed Hindu Mandalam and become strong critics of the ministry. Finally the Congress was forced to expel them from the party. The Hindu Mandalam created deep divisions in the society. These problems led to the resignation of the ministry. The Congress party persuaded veteran congress leader shri A.P. Udayabhanu to take over the leadership but he politely declined the offer. Finally the congress party of Travancore-Cochin persuaded Shri C. Kesavan to take over the leadership. The new ministry had come into existence on 21st February 1951. Shri C. Kesavan had faced opposition from communal pressure groups and parochial leaders of the old Cochin Praja Mandalam. All these groups had wanted more berths in the cabinet and important positions. A group of legislative members from the old Cochin region including Shri Panampbilly Govinda Menon had resigned from the legislature; alleging neglect of Cochin region. Shri A.M. Thomas had not resigned and he had been elected to speaker’s post. Mean while lot of propaganda had been unleashed against the ministry. The propagandists had alleged that the congress had been controlled by Christian lobby. They had called the congress ‘Christian-congress’. Mannathu Pandamanabha Pillai and R.Sanker had got congress ticket on the basis of their association with NSS and SNDP. The Christian leaders of the Congress like Shri T.M. Varghese, Shri A.J. John, shri R. V. Thomas, Shri P. T. Chacko, Mathew Maniangadan, Shri.K.M. Chandy and Shri .Cherian J. Kappan had no backing of Christian communal organizations and emerged to political leadership through their organizational skills and hard struggle for social reforms and independence.
During Shri C.Kesavan’s rule, a fire had destroyed the Sabrimala temple. The incidence had come to light after a few days. The Travancore-Cochin Pradesh Congress Committee had its session at Alapuzha at that time. The Chief Minister had sat in a corner of the hall, where the meeting had been conducted. Some government officials had reached the hall and conveyed the news of the fire. The Chief Minister had in very low noise had spoken as a monologue that if one temple was destroyed that much superstition would be reduced. Some mischievous elements had leaked it to the press. The communal minded news papers like ‘The Deshabhandu’ of Shri K.M Sankunni Pillai had made hue and cry alleging anti Hindu bias of the Shri Kesavan government. These developments had further vitiated the communal relations in Travancore region and weakened the congress base.
On 26th January 1952 the Indian Republican constitution had become effective. In Travancore -Cochin the legislative constituencies and the Parliamentary constituencies were reconstituted. The number of legislative constituencies in Travancore-Cochin had been reduced to 108. In March 1952 general election for the newly constituted legislative assembly for Travancore-Cochin had taken place. Both shri Mannathu Pandamanabha Pillai and Shri R. Sanker had returned to the congress but the political wound they had caused in the general public had not healed. The public they had taken away from the congress had not returned and the communists, who had very little roots, exploited the situation. Prof: K. M. Chandy had contested the election and got elected in 1952. Shri. Cherian J Kappan vacated his seat for Shri K.C. Sebastian. In 1952 general election the Indian Communist party had made significant gains. They had become second largest party, while the congress had become single largest party short of absolute majority. The congress had needed support of small parties. Prof: Chandy had become one of the prominent members of the state legislative assembly. The Congress had deputed shri G.P. Nilakanta Pillai and Prof: K.M. Chandy for soliciting support of Tamil Nadu Congress. They had travelled to Nagarcovil and met the Tamil Nadu Congress leaders. The Tamil Nadu Congress leaders conveyed their grievances against leaders from Thiruvanathapuram. The area of Nagarcovil district and Kannyakumari district are known as Najannadu. Najannadu formed the rice bowl of Travancore. The agricultural land of Najannadu had been owned by feudal land lords of Thiruvanathapuram. The poor peasants of Najannadu had cultivated the land for land lords on lease and they had to surrender major portion of the cultivated products to the land lords. The peasants had been treated like slaves. The leaders of Thiruvanthapuram had used to insult members of Tamil Nadu Congress inside the assembly. They had told Prof: Chandy and Shri Nilakanta Pillai that they would not support any Chief Minister hailing from Thiruvanthapuram region. Hence, Prof: Chandy and Shri Nilakanta Pillai had suggested names of Shri Panampilly Govinda Menon and Shri A.J. john. Tamil Nadu Congress leaders had reservations about Shri Panampilly. They had told that they could Support Shri John. Shri Nilakanta Pillai and Professor: Chandy had conveyed their assessment of the situation to the congress parliamentary party. Shri Panampilly had insisted that he should be elected to leaders post and a contest followed. Shri A.J. John had been elected. The congress leaders of Thirdvanathapuram had been continuing their direct and indirect attack including insult on Tamil Nadu Congress without any let up; and this had led to the withdrawal of support to the ministry by Tamil Nadu Congress. The bitter feeling generated by the Thiruvanathapuram lobby finally had resulted in the strong demand for joining the districts of Nagarcovil and Kannyakumari to Tamilnadu when states had been reorganized on the basis of language. The Shri A.J. John ministry had resigned on 23rd September 1953. The fall of the ministry necessitated for new general election.
In 1954 new general election had been conducted. The congress had failed to secure majority and attained the position of the largest party in the assembly. Prof: Chandy had contested from Meenachil constituency and won with comfortable majority. He had become the whip of the Congress parliamentary party. The party had decided to support Praja Socialist Party of shri Pattom Thannu Pillai to form a ministry. Supporting a minority party to form a ministry was the first incidence in the history newly formed Indian Republic. Under the initiative of progressive members of the legislature a land reform bill had been introduced in the legislature. Both Panampilly Govnda Menon and Prof: K.M. Chandy had strongly supported the bill. During the discussion Revenue minister Shri P.S. Nataraja Pillai had inquired the opinion of Prof: Chandy on land holdings of the religious institutions. Prof: Chandy had replied that there should be restrictions of land holdings of all including the religious bodies. The progressive opinion of Prof: Chandy had brought wrath on him from rich feudal land lords and all religious groups including Catholic priests.
Shri R.V. Thomas, Prof: K.M.Chandy, Shri Cherian J. Kappan and Mathew Maniangadan were examples of honest and sincere politicians of early era. They had used their public life for the welfare of the public. They were averse to personal corruption. They had never used their public position to amass wealth. They had hailed from well to do families. Most of them had spent lot of their personal wealth they had inherited from their ancestors for public work. When Shri R.V.Thomas died he had huge debt and he had already sold his wife’s ornaments and his land property. Prof: Chandy had impeccable character and he had never encouraged nepotism and sycophancy. He was against formation of group followers around him. He was against self image building. He never tolerated factionalism. He had expressed his opinion without fear or favour. Whatever the truth he believed he had openly expressed without fear of losing support of his followers or strong groups, who could influence voters. His straight and fearless approaches had become strong weapons in the hands of his distracters, who had alleged that he was a man ,who never helped his friends; relatives and also a man creating problems for religious groups and well to do. In spite of this criticism he had continued his work for the welfare of Meenachil taluk. Under his tireless effort the Pala government hospital had been upgraded into a Taluk hospital with Civil Surgeon, assistant surgeons and gynecologist. Government had acquired around 5 acres of land for further development in future. New inpatients facilities including pay wards had been built and X-ray imaging facility had been created in the hospital. A major achievement of Prof: Chandy as an MLA was the building of a bridge across Meenachil River. Pala municipal town had been virtually divided into two portions by the Meenachil River. People living in southern portion had no access to Northern portion in most of the year. Major market, taluk office, government hospital and major High Schools were in the Northern portion. A major road to Ponnkunam, Kanjirapilly, Erumaley and Sabirimala had terminated at south portion of Pala. People and vehicles travelled across the river with the help of country made Junkers and country boats. Prof: Chandy had made efforts to sanction a bridge across the Meenachil River. He had pressed the Government to implement it. The bridge is still in good health after 70 years, while many bridges built recently has either crashed or decommissioned. He and Cherian J Kappen had been responsible for starting numerous aided high schools in Meenachil taluk. Meenachil taluk had a few secondary schools. Students had to walk long distances to reach available secondary schools like Pala St. Thomas School and St. Mary’s School. Facilities for girl students had been rare. With their strenuous efforts Schools had come up in all villages. The major state roads (PWD Roads) had been in a pathetic condition. The road surfaces had been paved with granite rubbles. During monsoon season the rubbles used to loosen and water pools developed in the roads. This had caused obstruction for motor vehicles, bullock carts and pedestrians. The pedestrians had been splashed with mud and dirty water whenever motor vehicles had passed. In summer months the mud had become dry and produced huge amount of dust when vehicles had passed. The shops and homes nearby had to suffer from dust pollution. Prof: Chandy impressed upon the government to renovate all roads with keel surfacing (Tar surface). The major part of Pala town had remained flooded during monsoon season. The town roads were raised to mitigate flooding. He managed to bring electricity to most parts of Meenachil taluk and the electrification caused Meenachil taluk to emerge as one of the major agricultural and business place in the state. The Pala market had been developed during his tenure. Shri K.M. Chandy and Shri Cherian J Kappen had obtained sanction and permission for starting Pala St.Thomas College. Shri Cherian Kappen due to financial difficulties had left state level politics and concentrated in legal practice. Later he had become municipal chairman. During his tenure he had brought several developments to Pala municipality. The drainage facility, Municipal Park, Municipal public library, Pala Bus Station and water supply scheme during summer season were his contributions.
Soon the Pattom ministry had fallen. Shri Pannampilly Govinda Menon had formed the next ministry of Travancore Cochin. He had decided to include Prof: K.M.Chandy in the cabinet. Shri Pannambilly had openly expressed his desire. It had irritated the feudal lobby and communalists. A feudal land lord and business man from Pala, who had entered the congress after the independence, approached Shri K.M.Sankunni Pillai the owner of largest motorbus fleet in Travancore and both had solicited the help of a congress leader from Changanacherry. They had met Shri Panammpilly and had persuaded him to drop the name of Prof: Chandy from the list and include the name of Shri A.J. John. Shri John had been reluctant to join ministry. They had brought pressure from the Central party leadership on Shri John to join the ministry.
The reorganization of provinces and states on the basis of spoken languages of the region had been under process. The national state re-organization committee had proposed the formation of Kerala State by merging part of Malabar region of Madras presidency. The Malabar region was consisted of south Kanara, North Kanara and regions south of Managlore up to Shornnur. Tradiitionally it had been believed that old Kerala consisted of the land extending from Gokarnam (a Place North of Managlore) to Cape Comrin (Kannya Kumari). The proposed state had left Managlore, Nagarkovil and Kannyakumari districts to Karnataka and Tamilnadu respectively. A group of legislators revolted against this proposal resulting in the fall of the ministry. President’s rule was imposed on the state.
On November 1st the new Kerala state had come into existence. In 1957 March, elections to the state assemblies and parliament had taken place. Pala was the part of newly constituted Poonjar assembly constituency. Prof: Chandy decided to contest from Pooliyanoor constituency. His detractors had taken it as an opportunity to defeat him. The land lords, who owned major chunk of the agricultural lands; the feudal industrialists and feudal minded groups who were against national independence joined together and put up staunch supporter of Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer and ‘ Swantra Travancore’ Shri Joseph Chazhikadan against Prof: Chandy. The Communist Party of India initially put up a candidate against Prof: Chandy but withdrew the candidate. They abandoned their professed ideology of anti feudalism and anti capitalism for temporary political gain. The industrialist like Shri K.M.Sankunni Pillai and other motor industrialists had grouse against Prof: Chandy for organizing trade unions in their industries for the first time. The big land owners and religious group had believed that the rise of Prof:Chandy would affect their feudal hegemony over the public. They all joined together with the single agenda of defeating the progressive youth politician Prof:Chandy. The Communist party provided the opportunitstic support as they had done early in ‘Quit India movement’. The communist party stocked the communal and feudal forces, whenever it suited them. The communist were envious of Prof: Chandy because they could not organize labour unions in most part of Travancore ,which had feudal backgrounds. The success of Prof: Chandy in this area actually surprised them. The communists believed that the trade union activity was their exclusive domain. Hence, they wanted the removal of Prof: Chandy from the political scene. By this time factionalism started to appear in the congress. Some congress men who were envious of Chandy’s rise in the party organization wanted his defeat. They hobnobbed with the opposite camp. One person who was entrusted with the election work in Elakkaddu Panchayat and Kannakkary Panchayat betrayed Prof: Chandy. He attended day time meetings of the congress, while he canvassed votes for Shri Chazhykadan secretly in night. He also diverted the funds for electioneering. Prof: Chandy was defeated with a margin of lesser than 600 votes.
Prof: Chandy was President of the District Congress Committee from 1953 to 1957. He was General Secretary of the K.P.C.C. from 1963 to 1967 and Treasurer of the K.P.C.C. from 1967 to 1972. He was Member of the K.P.C.C. from 1948 onwards and a Member of the All India Congress Committee from 1963 onwards. In January 1978 he resigned the post of Rubber Board and became the president of Kerala Pradesh congress Committee. The first youth congress in Travancore Cochin State was started by him in the year of 1953. He attended the first All India Convention of youth Congress held at Avadi, Chennai, 1957. As the president of District Congress Committee Prof: Chandy had strengthened the congress committees throughout the district. The Party had large number of dedicated active workers at ward and panchayat levels. The Congress was facing severe factional fight with in its organization during 1962 to 1966. Initially there was fight between the group led by Shri C.K. Govindan Nair and the groups led by R.Sanker and Shri P.T Chacko. Shri K.P. Madahavan Nair was the KPCC president. The KPCC leadership tried to keep the peace. Prof: Chandy had played a crucial role in this process. Meanwhile, Shri P T. Chacko was involved in an accident, in which his State Car hit a person. Shri Chacko was driving the car. There was a demand for the resignation of the minister from the opposition and the ruling party. Shri Chacko was not supposed to drive the government car for which a driver was available. One Congress MLA went on fast demanding resignation. Finally Shri Chacko was forced to resign. Shri Chacko felt humiliated. Both Shri Chacko and shri Sanker fell apart. Shri Chacko went around organizing public meetings explaining his grievances against the leadership. A news paper owned by the Carmelite priests started giving communal colour and spread hatred against the congress leadership and R. Sanker. Prof: Chandy tried to pacify Shri Chacko and held discussions with him. They agreed to strengthen congress in the Central Travancore region. It was almost decided that Shri Chacko would move to the Central politics for the time being. However, fate was against them. Shri Chacko went to wyanad in connection with a legal dispute; died on 01/08/1965.
In 1957 April 12th new Communist ministry came into existence. This was the first ministry of newly organized Kerala State. Nobody imagined that the Communist would capture power in Kerala. The new ministry had 11 members and included non communist members like Prof: Joseph Mundassery and Shri A.R. Menon. The formation of communist ministry in Kerala had surprised everyone. The communist had neither accepted the attainment of Indian Independence nor recognized the Indian Republican constitution. They had opposed the five year plans of Pandit Jawaharilal Nehru. They had openly expressed their opposition to Parliamentary form of democracy and owed to subvert it at any cost. The Calcutta thesis of communist party of India had called for overthrowing the new Nehru Government through violent armed struggle. They were supporting the dictatorial form of rule implemented by Mr. Joseph Stalin in Soviet Union. In 1957 general election the communist Party got only 35% of popular votes. This meant that large sections of people had not voted for the new government. The new government in their enthusiasm forgot to govern taking consensus of all sections. The Congress was not a cadre party and its organizational wing never directly involved in day to day government matters nor did its cadres give directions to local revenue, labour and police authorities. Once the communist took the power in Kerala, they insisted that all the government machineries should work under the direct supervision of the party cadres. This resulted in alienation of non communists, who formed the majority. The communists failed to recognize the vast majority of common people, who were not aligned to any political party. The organizational wing directly involving in the functioning of the government is considered unethical in Westminster form of parliamentary democracy. The repression unleashed on the fellow leaders of the Soviet Communist party by comrade Joseph Stalin had terrified all freedom loving people. The Soviet Communist Party had curtailed all personal liberty of citizens and it had established one party rule. Free press was not allowed. Many renowned Communist party leaders were purged fearing that they might raise political challenge to Comrade Stalin. Free speech and freedom of expression had been banned in the Soviet Union. In Warsaw Pact countries (East European Communist Countries) the governments had no autonomy. The Government in Hungary was over thrown by the Soviet army. In these circumstances it was natural for many free thinking people to fear about the future of democracy in Kerala. The new communist Government formed in China had followed even more repressive rule. Feelings were grown among the intellectuals that once communist attained absolute power they would overthrow the democratic freedom, freedom of speech and liberty. This had led to the famous liberation struggle, which had resulted in the dismissal of the first communist ministry in Kerala.
The educational sector of Travancore and Cochin states had several problems, which earlier governments had failed to resolve due to the opposition from strong communal lobbies, who had controlled the private sector. It required urgent attention due to the poor service conditions of teachers and non teaching staff. Shri Joseph Mudassery introduced an education bill in the Kerala Assembly. This bill had many positive elements. The Christian management especially the catholic managements opposed the bill and started agitations, which did not evoke any public response and agitation flopped. Prof: Chandy had left active politics and concentrated on teaching activity. Fr. Jacob Mannalal the secretary of the Kerala Private School Mangers Association approached Prof: K.M. Chandy and sought his opinion on agitation against education bill. Prof: Chandy expressed that an agitation against the communist by the Christian management or the catholic management would not get any public support. He suggested a movement against the antidemocratic stand of the communist party with the participation of all communities, had a chance to succeed. Fr. Mannalal had approached Shri. Mannathu Padanabha Pillai with the help of Prof: Chandy. Shri. Mannathu Padanabha Pillai had formed a nine member committee for starting a liberation movement against the communist government. Shri Mannathu Padanabha Pillai was the President of the committee Prof: K.M. Chandy and P.Sadisvan Pillai were secretaries of the committee. Soon the agitation started and all opposition political parties joined the struggle subsequently .
The cause and effects of liberation struggle is debated even today. Most of the people take sides on this debate. None has objectively assessed the effect of liberation struggle. The liberation struggle emboldened the communal elements especially the Christian clergy. On the other hand the communist learned to accommodate others views, run the government as per democratic checks and balances provided in the constitutions. The sea of changes had taken place in international communist movement during this period. In Soviet communist party moderate leadership under Comrade Niketa Kurshchev had emerged and this leadership had condemned Comrade Stalin and his autocratic methods. Soon Comrade Mao Sethung and the Chinese communist leadership had dissociated with Soviet leadership. These developments also had its repercussions on the Indian Communist movement.
The result of the liberation movement was the dismissal of communist government and president’s rule was introduced. The development in international communist movement resulted in a major split in Indian communist movement. The communist party leaning toward Chinese line(Indian Communist party Marxist) could gather more support among the cadres. However, it weakened over all communist movement in the country. The communist parties were reduced to regional outfits. Soon the Indian communist party (Marxist) was forced to abandon the Chinese bias and took independent stand on ideological matters.
After the dismissal of the communist ministery Presidential rule was imposed for a brief period. Soon a general election was held and the Indian National Congress and its allies got comfortable majority. Shri Pattom Thannu Pillai headed coalition ministery. Shri Pattom Thannu Pillai was appointed as Governor of the State of Punjab and R Sanker had become new chief minister. The Sanker ministry fell following the revolt of 21 Christian and Nair legislators of the congress under the leadership of shri K M George. They later formed the Kerala Congress. The formation of Kerala Congress was purely on the basis of communal agenda; the Syrian Christian and Nair communities had grouse against Shri R Sanker, who belonged to Ezhava community( a backward community). With exit of Shri P T Chacko from cabinet the Christian clergy found it opportune time for manipulation. The news paper run by the Carmelite priests had great influence on laity. The paper had given communal colour to all incidents including the exit of Shri P T Chacko from the cabinet and this resulted in alienation of large sections of the Syrian Christians from the Indian National Congress. Prof: Chandy had remained as a stead fast national congress man and reminded the Christian community that the decline of the Indian National Congress would lead to the growth of the communal forces and ultimately leading to repression of the minority communities. This would ultimately take our beloved mother land to disintegration. Some good hearts like late bishop Mar. Dr.Sebastian Vyalil had heeded his advice and openly expressed his dismay. The priests continued their tirade against the Congress. During this period a number Congress leaders looking for good pastures had migrated to the Kerala Congress and obtained legislative position. Prof: Chandy remained active in the Congress organisation and occupied various organisational positions. He had tried to strengthen the organisation
With the advent of Kerala Congress, the Christian and Nair communities had largely moved away from the Congress and this was largely due to the communal feelings generated by the Christian clergy and the Kerala Congress. They called the Indian National Congress “innacco” a short form of Indian National Congress in Malayalam vernacular . This they expanded it as “ Ezhavan nattya Congress”, which meant the Congress Ezhava community made impure.This vilification programme had little impact in the other part of Kerala except in the Central Travancore. The Congress had remained strong in the other part of the state. The following general election had proved this fact. The Central Travancore had been considered as Congress bastion. The Kerala Congress people imagined that the Congress would be totally wiped out due to it’s failure in the central Travancore. The general election followed the president rule in 1965. The Congress gained large numbers of seats(65) in southern districts and coastal areas. The Kerala Congress gained 15 seat only and their tally was confined to the central Travancore. The Congress emerged as largest party with 65 seats. Soon the Kerala Congress started canvassing for a new coalition government with the Indian National Congress. The Congress did not agreed for it. The communist party of India (Marxist) emerged as second largest party. The Marxist communist party had entered into seat adjustments with the Muslim league. This had helped them to gain more seats. Their professed ideology of no compromise with the communal parties was not impediment for this “U” turn. The communist party of India had contested all seat without any alliance. They had gained lesser number of seats compared to Marxist communists. This had resulted into the movement of the communist cadres towards the Communist party (Marxist). The Congress suffered major reverses in constituencies like Pala, Poonjar, Kanjirapilly and Moovattupuzha, where the Congress was reduced to the third position.
National leader and architect of modern India Shri Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Passed away on 27th May1964. It left a vacuum in the national leadership, parochial and divisive forces had started to emerge in many states, offering strong political challenges to the democracy and the Indian national Congress. Shri Lalbhadur Sastri had become the Prime minister. Soon India faced aggression from Pakistan which the government successfully defeated. The country faced severe drought and food shortages. Shri Sastri suffered a heart attack at Tashkent, where he signed a peace agreement with Pakistan. The Congress had to find a new Prime minister. Mrs Indira Priyadarshini Nehru Gandhi was elected. The new government under Mrs lndira Gandhi had to face-severe food crisis, political instability in states, factionalism in the Congress and language agitation in south India.
The 1967 General Election opened several challenges to the Congress. It lost majority in Tamil Nadu and several states. In parliament also the Congress some how managed a simple majority. In Kerala Indian communist party (Marxist) formed a large coalition of seven parties including Indian communist party and Indian Muslim League. This combination managed to get a huge majority in the state assembly. This coalition defeated the Congress in all Parliamentary seats except one. The Congress had only nine members in the assembly and the Kerala Congress had only five members. The Congress though defeated it had definitely demonstrated its presence in most part of Kerala.The Nair community and non catholic Syrian Christian community abandoned the Kerala Congress by this time. The non catholic Syrian community leaders thus became the minority Christian face of the Congress and the national politics.
Prof:Chandy approached several social leaders for reviving the Congress in the Central Travancore. He obtained consent of veteran freedom fighter Shrimati Accamma Cherian to contest on Congress ticket from Kanjirappilly. This reduced the margin of the Kerala Congress. In Pala constituency he persuaded former organiser of Bharat Sevak Samaj Shri M M Jacob to contest . Shri Jacob gave a tough fight and came second in the triangular contest.This boosted the morale of the the booth level Congress workers. The municipal election followed resulted in the defeat of the communists in majority of the municipal councils
Cracks had developed in national leadership of the Congress. Veteran congress leaders like Shri K Kamaraj, Shri S K Patil,, N Sanjeev Reddy, Shri Atulya Gosh and Shri Morarjee Desai had openly challenged Mrs Ghandhi’s leadership. They had nominated Shri Sanjeev Ready for the post of union President. Mrs Gandhi had defied the organisational wing and openly supported the opposition candidate Shri V V Giri. Shri V V Giri had won and had become the President of India. This had resulted in the Split of Indian national Congress. The wing of Indian national Congress led by Mrs Ghandhi had the support of the majority of Congress M Ps, All India Congress committee members, Pradesh Congress committee members and the legislative wings in various states. Hence, the Congress led by Mrs Indira Gandhi had been recognised as the real Indian national Congress and received the original election symbol and flag. The Congress had continued to rule the country with the support of the Indian communist party and Dravida Munetta Kazhakam. The Congress split had its own repercussions in the state Congress .The Kerala Pradesh Congress committee had also split. The KPCC President Shri K C Abraham along with Shri T O Bava, Shrimati Kamalam Shri Alexandr Parmbithara and a number of senior leaders had left Mrs Gandhi’s Congress. Shri K Karunakaran, Prof:K.M.Chandy, Shri C M Stephen,R Sanker and K K Viswanathan remained in the Indian national Congress led by Mrs. Gandhi. In the legislative wing also four legislators had left the party.
The ruling coalition of Kerala had thumping majority in the state assembly. However, this opportunity was not used for presenting a good performance.The leading partner the Communist Party Marxist (CPM) was more interested in imposing its hegemony on the partners. They interfered in departments of other parties and CPM trade unions created impediments in developmental activities. Kerala faced severe food shortage; the effort of CPI minister to improve farm production was resisted. Same fate fell on industrial development. The CPI and other major coalition partners decided to come out of coalition and formed a new ministry with Shri C. Achutha Menon of CPI as the Chief minister. The Congress supported the ministry from outside. The Achutha Menon ministery introduced several developmental activities in agriculture and industry. Shri Achutha Menon ministry advised the governor to dissolve the legislative assembly and call for general election.
The Congress in Kerala faced shortage of leaders to contest the election. Most of the known veterans had migrated to the old organizational Congress. Prof: Chandy strongly recommended the youth Congress members and student leaders for the state assembly. The remaining Congress leaders were apprehensive about this idea. However,Prof:Chandy insisted on his suggestion, which finally was agreed. Thus several youngsters below the age 28 were given the Congress ticket.The election followed gave rich dividends. All the youth leaders won. Some of them were elected from constituencies, which were considered as CPM fortresses . Prof: Chandy personally canvassed for the youth leaders. The Congress became the largest group in the state assembly. The Congress thus became strong political force. In Pala constituency Shri M M Jacob had gave very tough fight to Shri KM Mani. Shri Mani retained his seat with very narrow margin of just three hundred votes. This proved that the Congress was a formidable force in Meenachil Taluk. The Kerala Congress hardly managed to get lesser than ten seats. The newly formed Shri C Achutha Menon ministry with Congress participation initiated several progressive measures in agriculture and industrial sectors, which brought rich dividends for the state.
Soon Mrs Gandhi advised the President to dissolve the parliament and call for general election. The election gave 2/3 majority for the Congress in Loksabha. Prof :Chandy was appointed as Chairman of Indian Rubber Board.
Professor : Chandy initiated talks with the leaders of the Kerala Congress for reunification with the national Congress. Talks were taking place with central leaders like K C Pant and progressing well. Knowing this some vested interests in the Kerala Congress raised the bogey of Shri K M George holding the two posts in the party and started forming a group against him. This hurt the feelings of Shri K M George deeply. The heart broken Shri George died.
By1975 the political climate in India had vitiated. Following Alhabad high Court judgement against Mrs Gandhi; she imposed emergency on the country. There were considerable criticism against this action. Mrs Gandhi had decided to call for general election. Shri Jagajeevanram a senior cabinet colleague of Mrs Gandhi had revolted against Mrs Gandhi on the issue of non revocation of emergency ; had resigned from cabinet and he formed Congress for Democracy (CFD). The KPCC of Kerala had openly supported Mrs Gandhi and declared that they would stand behind Mrs Gandhi like a hard rock.
In the election all opposition parties had formed a coalition called Janata party and had defeated the Congress with the support of the CPM. Congress had lost heavily in the northern states. Mrs Gandhi had also lost her seat. In Kerala the Congress led coalition had won the election with thumping majority. Since Shri C Achutha Menon had decided to retire from political life, Shri K Karunakaran had become Chief Minister.
At all India level the Congress leaders had started attacking Mrs Gandhi for the defeat.The newly formed Janata Government was after Mrs Gandhi’s blood. The Congress leaders gave tactical support for this move.
In Kerala the KPCC leaders, who had earlier supported her, switched sides. They were demanding removal of Mrs Gandhi from the primary membership of the Congress. Meanwhile Shri K Karunakaran was forced to resign from the Chief minister’s post following adverse remarks by Kerala high court on a habeas corpus petition regarding the disappearance of an engineering student Shri Rajan, who had been taken to custody by the Kerala Police. Shri A K Antony became new Chief Minister. Shri Karunakaran faced severe financial problems due to court cases. The Congress leadership in Kerala had completely abandoned him. Some good hearts like Dr. K G Adyodi, Shri M P Gangadharan and a few well wishers only had helped him.
The Janata Government under Shri Morarji Desai was controlled by the old Jansangh, which was the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS had its objective as formation of the theocratic nation with orthodox rules. The opposition Congress did not raise an effective opposition against ruling class’s attempt to thwart the constitution and subjugate the minorities and the Dalits. Mrs Gandhi started raising her voice against torture of the Dalits and the minorities. This gave hopes for people and they started to recognise her as the future hope for the nation. The Congress split into faction led by Mrs Gandhi and other one led by Brhamanda Reddy. The ruling Congress in Kerala joined with Brhamanda Reddy. The split came in to effect in January 1978, when Mrs Gandhi organised a convention of her supporters in congress. Shri K Karunakaran and 14 Congress legislators in Kerala openly supported Mrs. Gandhi. Twenty four Congress legislators were with Mr. A K Antony. Most of the District Congress committees remained with Shri A K Antony and only five DCC Presidents moved to Mrs Gandhi’s side. Professor Chandy was still holding the post of Chairman of Indian Rubber Board. He had submitted his resignation of his post, when Janata Party had formed the Government. The new minister for the Commerce was Shri Mohan Dharia, an old Congress man and CFD member. He was not in a hurry to accept the resignation.
In Kerala the faction led by loyalists of Mrs Indira Gandhi needed a new leader to organise the party from scratches. Most of the party offices, vehicles and party funds were with the ruling faction. The major news papers like Malayala Manorama openly supported them. The Manorama had produced scandalous articles against Mrs Gandhi. Dr. K G Adiyodi Shri M M Jacob, Shri M P Gangadharan and other leaders met Mrs Gandhi, suggested the name of Prof: Chandy for the leadership. Mrs Gandhi accepted this suggestion gladly as she had known his organising skills during the initial formation of the youth Congress. Soon the leaders contacted Prof: Chandy at Kerala and he readily agreed. He had left a highly paying central government job and took the Kerala Pradesh Congress leadership. While Malayala Manorama continued their tirade against Mrs Gandhi; the ‘Vishkanam’ mouthpiece of Antony group started their tirade against Prof :Chandy even questioning his Congress credentials. This had pained him very much since he had started his Congress work/Congress membership even before many of them had born.
Prof :Chandy inherited an organisation, which had no offices, funds and vehicles. The real ordinary Congress workers welcomed Prof Chandy with over flowing enthusiasm. Professor K M Chandy travelled to nook and corner of the State, organising booth level and panchayat level Congress committees. He conducted several study classes for the ordinary Congress workers on Indian nationalism and role of Congress in building a secular and democratic nation.
Meanwhile general elections to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh assemblies had taken place. The Congress led by Mrs Indira Gandhi had swept the election with landslide victory. In the by-elections held for Loksabha also the Congress (led by Mrs Gandhi) had won handsome. In a by-election held at an Uttar Pradesh Loksabha constituency Mrs Moshina Kidwai of the Congress (Indira) won the election with huge margin. In UP the Congress had lost all seats in1977 election forfeiting deposits in majority of the seats . These results did not open the eyes of the Antony group. They continued character assassinations of Mrs Indira Gandhi with the help of the media.
The newly formed Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee had Professor K M Chandy as president, Dr. K G Adiyodi Vice President’ Shri Vakom Puroshathaman, Shri T H Musthfa and Shri M M Jacob as general secretaries. People like M A John, who was keeping low profile joined and started field work for the Congress.The committee had K Karunakaran as representative of the Congress legislative wing. Prof:Chandy along with K Karunakaran and others took whirlwind tour of the state visiting nook and corner of panchayats and municipal towns forming the booth level committees. On the suggestion of M P Gangadharan the Congress workers instead of floral garlands received the leaders with the garlands made of currency notes. These collections were used for raising funds for the Party and meet the expenses of court cases against K Karunakaran. Soon the District Committees were reorganised. Mullappilly Ramachandran was made president of the youth Congress and a number of youth leaders like M T Padma joined the youth Congress executive committee.The Kerala Students Union (KSU) was reorganised with G Karthikeyan as president and Shri Ramesh Chenithala as one of the important members. Shri T H Mustafa took the responsibility of organising the Congress Sevadal, which he had done excellently. The Congress had become a formidable force in many parts of the state. The Congress ranks had been filled by the minority community members in the Malabar region. Some old freedom fighters expressed their willingness to join the Congress. This had made the Muslim League leaders nervous, who had supported Shri AK Antony. The Congress (Indira) had only the Joseph group of Kerala Congress and National Democratic Party with it as allies. Shri P J Joseph proposed a name for the new front “ the United Democratic Front” (UDF) and this was accepted by all other parties.
The Congress state level convention and rally held at Kozhikode; the meeting held at Thiruvananthapuram; the Seva Dal march fast held at Ernakulam demonstrated that the Congress had grown as the largest political force in Kerala. The Ernakulam meeting was attended by more than one lakh Congress workers and ten thousand Congress Sevadal volunteers took part in route March. The Congress president Mrs Gandhi was impressed by the performance of the Congress in Kerala. She congratulated the state Congress leaders for this impressive show. Later in the Congress working committee meeting she mentioned about the work done by the Kerala Pradesh Congress committee and asked other leaders to follow the Kerala path. An independent political survey conducted by the ‘India Today’ magazine with the help of a social study group had revealed more than 45% people of Kerala strongly supported the Congress led by Mrs Indira Gandhi. This was more than the public support enjoyed by any other political party in the state. The Kerala Students Union convention at Palghat had one lakh participants. All these developments had led to rethinking in the ruling coalition partners. During this period Mrs Gandhi had decided to contest to the Loksabha (Parliament) from Chickmangloor constituency in Karnataka. The Janata party put former chief minister Veerendra Patil against Mrs Gandhi. The organisational Congress had not put up any candidate. This had infuriated Shri A K Antony and this he had perceived it as a reluctance of the leadership to counter Mrs Gandhi. To express his protest he had resigned his chief ministership. Soon Shri P K Vasudevan Nair became the new Chief minister. Mrs Gandhi won the election. The PKV ministry lasted hardly one year. A new ministry under the leadership of C H Muhammad Koya came into the existence with the support of the Congress (Indira). This ministry has resigned in December 1979. New general election followed. The left democratic front could manage a simple majority and a new ministry under the leadership of Shri E K Nayanar took office. The UDF emerged as a formidable opposition in the new assembly.
An ideal unity had prevailed in the Congress organisation. The Pradesh Congress committee President and the Parliamentary party leader had functioned with total unity. They had never allowed factionalism or group formation. All wings of party had functioned as one body. This had infuriated the news Papers supporting the Antony group. Such a situation had been unknown in Kerala. These newspapers had started mocking them, calling them ‘ Boban and Molly’ the caricature characters of Tom’s cartoon. The only interest of party leaders had been the growth of the party.
In the national level the Janata party had lost majority in Loksabha following breaking away of Shri Charan Sigh. He had formed a new ministry claiming support of the Congress but resigned following his failure to prove majority. A new ministry had been formed by Shri Chandrasekhar with the outside support of the Congress. This ministry had also fallen and a general election had resulted in 1980. The Indian national Congress led by Mrs Indira Gandhi had secured 2/3(two third) majority . Mrs Gandhi had sincerely wanted Prof :Chandy in Parliament and the party had decided to field Prof:Chandy. He had contested from Kottayam Parliamentary constituency and lost narrowly. This had been due to the manipulation of the newspapers like Deepika and Malayala Manorama, who had wanted at any cost he had to be defeated to protect their vested interests. However, Prof:Chandy had succeeded in getting a good performance for the UDF, which had won 9 Seats out of 19. This remarkable feature had been achieved with the support of only Kerala Congress (Joseph) and NDA. The LDF had Antony group, the Kerala congress (Mani), the Muslim League, the RSP, Communist Party of India(CPI) and Indian communist party Marxist (CPM). This was a Six to seven party coalition, which scraped through the election. The impressive show of Congress in the election had made the LDF partners like Antony group, Muslim League and Kerala congress (Mani) nervous. The Kerala Congress (Mani) had very much reduced strength in the new assembly and it’s leader had to struggle for retaining sitting seat. He retained his seat with much reduced margin . Prof:Chandy had initiated discussion with Antony group leaders for merger of their group to the Indian national Congress. Shri K Karunakaran had shown less interest for this move since he had faced bitter experience from the Antony group, when they were in the united Congress. However, he had not raised any opposition for this move. When merger talks were progressing some persons from Antony group had sought an appointment with Mrs Gandhi. They had started demanding several positions in the Congress party as precondition for merger. Mrs Gandhi had been unhappy and this she had conveyed to Prof: Chandy and Shri K Karunakaran. Prof Chandy had immediately requested Mrs Gandhi to accept their demands. He had impressed upon her the necessity of unification of Congress. He had offered to step down the post of president; in case they were ready for the merger with mother organisation.
Once the CPM led ministry had been installed in 1980, the CPM had imposed their hegemony over their partners. The feeder organisations like CITU and DYFI had started physical attacks on Antony group workers. They had even entered their office and ransacked furniture and equipments. They had no other options except quitting the coalition. Prof:Chandy welcomed them back to the organisation happily. The Muslim League also quit the coalition. In 1981 October the ministry of Shri E K Nayanar resigned and President’s rule had been imposed till May 23 1982.
Soon negotiations for the expansion of the UDF had started. The Kerala Congress (M) had also joined the UDF. Prof:Chandy and Shri K Karunakaran had conducted negotiations with the new coalition partners for division of seats. Shri Karunakaran had shown hurry to form the ministry and this had resulted in yielding to unnecessary claims of certain parties. By this time Prof:Chandy had decided to leave the state politics. However, he continued till the successful completion of election. He had campaigned for success of UDF.
Once Prof:Chandy had decided to leave state politics, Mrs Gandhi had requested him to take over the post of Lt. Governor, which he had agreed. He had taken charge on 15th May 1982.With in one year he had been appointed as Governor of Gujarat. During his tenure at Gujarat; in Kerala communal violence broke out in parts of the state following some incidents during Miladi-Sheriff’(birthday of Prophet Mohammad) celebrations. The Antony group had demanded change of the leadership. The Prime minister had sent her principal secretary to the state. After getting the report, Mrs Gandhi requested Prof: Chandy to take over the leadership. Prof:Chandy had told Mrs Gandhi that what was going on in Kerala ; was nothing but factional fight for power. A change in the leadership would not solve the problem. He also had pointed out that there were only a few Congress men remaining in the party, who actually participated in national movement. He and Shri K Karunakaran were among them. He had close association with Shri K Karunakaran from 1949 onwards. They were members of the Travancore-Cochin assembly from 1949 to 1956. Since then they were good friends. He did not want to hurt the feelings of Shri K Karunakaran. Then Mrs Gandhi had asked him for the suggestions. He had told her that the party had to be strengthened for which , he had suggested the appointment of a KPCC President from the backward community. He had pointed out that when R Sanker was the KPCC President the Party had grown. He had also suggested the name of a youth Congress leader from backward community, who had good image.
Prof K M Chandy had taken charge of Madhyapradesh Governor soon. In the last week of October 1984 Shri Shri Sanker Dayal Sharma had arrived at Bhopal after taking charge of the Andhra Pradesh Governor. He was a guest of Prof:Chandy. Dr. Sharma had conveyed Mrs Indira Gandhi’s desire that Prof:K.M. Chandy should move to the centre and he had to contest from some safe Loksabha seat. Next day Mrs Gandhi had arrived at Indore for an inaugural function. When the function was over, Mrs Gandhi invited Prof:Chandy to Indore government guest house, where she had repeated her request. Prof:Chandy had replied that he was taking an holiday to visit home. Mrs Gandhi had requested him to select a suitable constituency and return to Delhi for further discussions. However, on 30th October 1984 Mrs Gandhi was assassinated. Prof: K M Chandy immediately rushed to Delhi.
After his retirement, several Congress leaders and workers had requested him to take the primary membership of the Congress so that he could become a member of the KPCC Executive committee. This, he had declined. He had felt that the decorum had to be observed. After holding the post of the state Governor it was not appropriate for him to enter the state politics. He had told them that he was fed up with the factional fight and power mongering among the Kerala leaders.