PALAKKAD: Defeat at Palakkad, one of the strongholds of the CPI (M) has led to a rift in the party. M.B. Rajesh, the LDF candidate at Palakkad and CPI (M) state committee member cited other reasons along with minority polarization for his defeat. Without mentioning the name of Shornur MLA P.K. Sasi, M.B. Rajesh is indirectly blaming him for the defeat.

The blame game has strengthened due to the big majority secured by the UDF candidate Sreekantan at Mannarkad. Rajesh got 48625 votes here while Sreekantan garnered 78250 votes. In the 2006 Assembly election, Jose Baby of LDF got 70000 votes. In 2011, CPI’s Chamunni lost by 12,000 votes only. Reading in between Rajesh’s words, he means that it is not natural to see a UDF candidate getting a majority of over 30000 votes. Also, in Pattambi, the LDF lost by a majority of 17179 votes, where they had a majority of 7406 votes in 2016. The power shift was visible in other strongholds like Shornur, Ottappalam, Malampuzha, and Kongad.

M.B. Rajesh says that there was undercurrent at party strongholds and he was surprised with UDF’s majority at Mannarkad. Meanwhile, P.K. Sasi has said that he is not responsible for the drop in vote share.