CM Vijayan continues to hold sway in Kerala CPI-M

Thiruvananthapuram, June 8 (IANS) With the first preliminary meeting of the CPI-M state Secretary held here on Friday passing off without any murmurs against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, despite the party suffering yet again at the Lok Sabha polls, it shows that his sway over the party continues as none is willing to bell the cat.

Friday’s meeting was a regular weekly party secretariat meeting where no one dared to express the real reason for the poll debacle which left the Left maintaining the status quo with just one seat, when Vijayan and his top leaders claimed they would be doing well.

So with the full-fledged party meetings to be held across the state in the coming days before the state secretariat and state committee, which begins on June 16, it remains to be seen if the real reason for the debacle will be analysed.

These meetings will be held in the backdrop of the lashing out done by the second biggest ally of the ruling Left -- CPI and then by RJD, which clearly points out that the reason for the debacle is the arrogance of Vijayan and his style of functioning.

Despite the debacle, Vijayan, soon after Friday’s meeting, slammed Metropolitan Bishop Geevarghese Mar Coorilose of the Syrian Jacobite Church and called him an ‘ignoramus’, dropping enough hints that he is not keen to undergo a makeover to improve his otherwise tough demeanour.

Taking a dig at Vijayan, Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan, on Saturday, said that the statement made by Vijayan against a Bishop is in no way acceptable.

“This clearly shows that he is in no mood to relent, despite being mauled at the polls. All that the Bishop tried to point out was that corrections have to be made otherwise what happened to CPI-M in Bengal and Tripura will happen here too. More importantly, there has been an erosion of their party votes from their strongest bastions. It is not befitting anyone to use words like those that Vijayan says against his detractors,” said Satheesan.

The next meeting which is being keenly looked out for is the leadership meeting of the Left Democratic Front, to be held here on Monday, on how CPI and RJD leaders who have already expressed their ire publicly against Vijayan, come face-to-face, and whether they will be able to reign him in.