Post Yechuri, Kerala CPI-M all set to dominate

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 5 (IANS) With the passing of Sitaram Yechuri, who was often seen taking a pro-Congress line, and the acting General Secretary Prakash Karat toeing the line of the Kerala unit of the CPI-M of strongly opposing Congress, things are in favour of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The next CPI-M Party Congress will be held in Madurai in April, for which the party’s state-wide meetings have all commenced.

Over the years, with the CPI-M in West Bengal and Tripura getting pushed out of the main political scenario in those states, the mantle is on Vijayan and the Kerala unit of the party to go forward.

According to sources, at its leader’s meeting held in Delhi recently, this was the focal point of discussion and the broad agreement was the party, though part of the INDIA Block, need not show any more mercy to the Congress party in Kerala and has decided to take on none other than Lok Sabha's Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and his sister, the candidate at the upcoming Lok Sabha by-election slated for November 13.

The broad consensus was that the CPI-M would be treating both Congress and BJP as its political opponents in Kerala.

A political critic on the condition of anonymity said that CPI-M will have to play its cards very well as Kerala is its last bastion and any wrong move would be disastrous for the party.

“The election results to the April Lok Sabha elections is the writing on the wall for CPI-M as BJP has been able to move forward in its vote share and like in West Bengal and Tripura, BJP gained when CPI-M became weak and in Kerala -- the first signs of it happened when the second biggest ally of the BJP-led NDA the BDJS making ground,” said the critic, and added that if the CPI-M has to claw back, it has to take a very strong anti-Congress position.

At the April Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led NDA made a gain of 2.60 per cent votes, with CPI-M-led Left’s share declining by 2.95 per cent and the Congress-led UDF came down by 2.27 per cent.

Traditionally in Kerala, the Hindu Ezhava community, especially in the southern and central districts of the state has always aligned with the CPI-M and the first signs that things are not that rosy was seen, when the BJP-led NDA candidates making steady gains in these areas.

Now with Karat at the helm, who is considered close to Vijayan, unlike Yechuri, it remains to be seen if the next party General Secretary will be from Kerala and as matters stand, it cannot be ruled out as Vijayan continues to hold sway.