Thiruvanathapuram:
It is not often that a member of the losing side is declared the man of the match. VS Achuthanandan is one such player. Almost like Sachin Tendulkar, who has often seen India lose, even when he scores a century.
Mr Achuthanandan made his last trip as chief minister, this time to the Raj Bhavan, to hand in his resignation to Governor R S Gavai. And as soon as he returned, it was as if he had transformed into the Leader of the Opposition. Mr Achuthanandan made it clear that his crusade against corruption would continue.
"Care should be taken not to induct corrupt MLAs or those with a criminal past into the ministry," he said.
The winning front will be confronted with enough problems. Having just 38 Congress MLAs in the UDF strength of 72 will mean the Congress cannot afford to be big brother in the coalition. It will also be forced to pander to the whims and fancies of smaller alliance partners.
"If they are not satisfied, if the political managers are not able to manage it, what would happen is that there would be a switching of loyalties immediately. Three people going out of the coalition would mean sudden death," said John Mary, a political analyst.
"The coalition partners have been ours for decades. We campaigned together as a coalition and we will govern as a coalition," said Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
The Congress observers will arrive in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday to attend the CLP meeting to elect the CLP leader. Oommen Chandy is the front-runner for the post though with the fragile nature of the majority, alliance partners do not rule out pulls and pressures from different factions of the Congress.
Mr Achuthanandan made his last trip as chief minister, this time to the Raj Bhavan, to hand in his resignation to Governor R S Gavai. And as soon as he returned, it was as if he had transformed into the Leader of the Opposition. Mr Achuthanandan made it clear that his crusade against corruption would continue.
"Care should be taken not to induct corrupt MLAs or those with a criminal past into the ministry," he said.
The winning front will be confronted with enough problems. Having just 38 Congress MLAs in the UDF strength of 72 will mean the Congress cannot afford to be big brother in the coalition. It will also be forced to pander to the whims and fancies of smaller alliance partners.
"If they are not satisfied, if the political managers are not able to manage it, what would happen is that there would be a switching of loyalties immediately. Three people going out of the coalition would mean sudden death," said John Mary, a political analyst.
"The coalition partners have been ours for decades. We campaigned together as a coalition and we will govern as a coalition," said Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
The Congress observers will arrive in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday to attend the CLP meeting to elect the CLP leader. Oommen Chandy is the front-runner for the post though with the fragile nature of the majority, alliance partners do not rule out pulls and pressures from different factions of the Congress.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
