Rajya Sabha seat: CPM surrender foreseeing disaster ahead

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The heavy setback faced in the Lok Sabha elections on one hand. The tough stance of the main constituents in the front and the possible political consequences in case of a tussle with the Kerala Congress-Mani faction on the other. It is clear why the CPM has reached the unusual position of giving away Rajya Sabha seats to other parties.

The CPM was ready to compromise itself, seeing that it was necessary to preserve the integrity and survival of the front. In a way, a surrender in the face of adversity. Retaining the Rajya Sabha seat is an issue of survival for Kerala Congress-M, which lost its membership in the Parliament after losing the Kottayam seat. No other temptation worked there. CPI was also not ready for persuasion.

After the Left strongholds crumbled across the state in the Lok Sabha elections, even the aides and well-wishers of the Left came forward with harsh words of warning. The Samastha mouthpiece 'Suprabhatam' lashed out at the Chief Minister's arrogance as the main reason for the LDF's backlash.

SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellappally Natesan's criticism that the government's excessive favouring of minorities has led to the loss of votes from the backward-scheduled sections is also making the government and the CPM sit up and think. The party is yet to respond to these criticisms. At the same time, the Chief Minister's depiction of Geevarghese Mor Coorilos, who was also a fellow left-winger who pointed out the government's mistakes with good intentions, as 'empty-headed', caused great resentment not only in the Christian churches but even in the left centres.

Warning that corrective action is required

The first meeting of the CPM Secretariat held after the counting of votes warned that there should be no intolerance to criticism and that the government and the party should take corrective measures to bring the people who have drifted away from the front closer together. The Chief Minister's remarks were followed by this.

This raised the question of whether this is how an error is corrected. It also led to criticism from the opposition that the party had degenerated to the point where there was no one to say that the king is naked. The allegation that anti-incumbency sentiment was the reason for the heavy backlash was also prevalent among the Left Front constituents. Following this, the CPI Polit Bureau meeting held in Delhi last day expressed deep disappointment over the election setback in Kerala.

PB has also decided to conduct a self-critical and in-depth analysis in the Central Committee based on the report of the Party State Committee. Apart from the upcoming local and assembly elections, the party is also worried about the BJP's inroads into the Left vote in the state.