KOCHI: With only two days remaining for Oommen Chandy to complete his first year in office, he may be getting ready for celebration although it was not a smooth ride for his government. The fifth ministership issue and the Cabinet reshuffle dented the image of the UDF.Two heavyweights within the party - Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed and former KPCC president K Muraleedharan - who have never been happy with the leadership came out in the open against the leadership. Talking to Express, Muraleedharan said that though the Congress and the UDF faced certain political setbacks in the last one year, the overall performance of the government was good. “The fifth ministership and the tug of war within the UDF cast a shadow on the government,” said Youth Congress state president P C Vishnunath MLA. “However, the people have stood behind Chandy, which was visible in the Piravom bypoll,” he said.Excise Minister K Babu said that some misunderstanding had cropped up in the Congress and the UDF but the government could overcome it. “The government has shown wonders in development,” he said. Soon after the new government was sworn in on May 18 last year, it suffered a setback in the Assembly during the voting on the Appropriation (Vote on Account) bill. Palmolein import case against Chandy, case against Minister for Social Welfare and Panchayat M K Muneer and the controversy related to the then Health minister Adoor Prakash’s daughter’s admission hit the government. Though faced with many challenges, the government that assumed office with the slogan ‘Development and Care,’ can boast of delivering some of the promises that it had made. The Chengara, Moolampally and Endosulfan packages, the decision to distribute rice at Rs 1 per kg for BPL families and the speeding up of Kochi Metro and Vizhinjam projects, are some of the programmes that worked. The 100-Day Programme launched by the UDF was fruitful, which gave the impetus to launch the One- Year Programme. The mass contact programme was also a success. A thumping win at Piravom also came as a big relief to the UDF and an endorsement of policies followed by the Chandy Government.
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