Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
By Shankar Raj*
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister (CM) Pinarayi Vijayan and his government reportedly came under fire from his own leaders and partymen at the ongoing Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPM) state committee meeting.
For over a decade nobody had dared to question Pinarayi, but this time CPM leaders blamed his style of functioning for the CPM-led ruling Left Democratic Front’s humiliating defeat in the state in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Quoting sources privy to what transpired at the closed-door meeting, a section of the media said a few leaders singled out the Chief Minister’s disconnect from the public and anti-incumbency for the loss of face in the Lok Sabha polls where the CPM managed to get just one seat out of 20.
Though the second Pinarayi government announced numerous welfare measures, the government failed to ensure that their benefits actually reached the masses, a report presented by CPM state secretary MV Govindan said.
Had the government taken some steps to address pension delay and shortage of supplies at supply co-outlets, the scenario would have been different, the report said.
The much-publicised Nava Kerala Sadas – an outreach programme of the Kerala government, where the chief minister and ministers travelled through all assembly constituencies of the state – didn’t quite yield the desired results, the report said. Added to that, the death of Sidharthan due to torture by the students’ wing of the party cast a negative image of the CPM.
The report further mentioned that the over-appeasement of the Muslim community drove down CPM sympathisers to the opposition Congress Party.
Speaking at the state committee meeting, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury too pointed out that there’s a general criticism that anti-incumbency against the state government was a major factor for the Left Democratic Front’s defeat in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
*Shankar Raj is a former editor of The New Indian Express, Karnataka and Kerala, and writes regularly on current affairs.
