After national debacle, Tharoor's next foray is Kerala politics

With the Kerala Youth Congress elections round the corner, the bitter rivalry between state party president Ramesh Chennithala and Leader of the Opposition and former chief minister Oomen Chandy has come to the fore.

According to sources, Thiruvananthapuram's beleaguered Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor is likely to back Chandy, who has stood by the former minister of state for external affairs though the present IPL crisis.

Tharoor has expressed willingness to be part of the day-to-day activities of state politics and wants to develop his support base among the grass-root office-bearers and cadres, say sources.

The former United Nations diplomat feels let down by Chennithala, according to a close aide of Tharoor.

"Chennithala is opposed to Tharoor on two counts. Both leaders belong to the Nair community and both have their contacts in Delhi. Tharoor would have emerged as the clear winner in the race to the post of chief minister in later stages of their political careers," the aide told rediff.com.

The faction led by Chennithala is trying to counter Chandy's influence by soliciting the support of other major party leaders including United Democratic Front convener P P Thankachan and Congress MPs K Sudhakaran and K C Venugopal. At a meeting recently held in Kochi, the group reportedly finalised the candidature of state Youth Congress president M Liju.

The Chandy camp wants All Indian Youth Congress's general secretary P C Vishnunath to be the next Youth Congress president.

Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of veteran leader K Karunakaran, is trying to wrest her supporters away from the Chennithala faction and join Chandy's camp.

With the support of both Venugopal and Tharoor, the former CM already seems to have an upper hand in the upcoming intra-party elections.

With the Congress hoping to come back to power in the state assembly elections scheduled for May 2011, the race for the CM's chair has already started, and elections for the Youth Congress state president is crucial for both factions.