KANNUR: Striking a note different from the party central committee’s assessment, CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan said that it was the confusion created by the enemies of the CPM that led to the defeat of the party candidate in Payyannur, a traditional stronghold of the Left movement. Addressing a public meeting in Payyannur on Saturday, Pinarayi said the machinations of those who were in the party leadership, had succeeded in misleading people to some extent.
It may be noted that the CPM central committee document on the defeat of the party in the assembly elections had stated that the party committed some mistakes in selecting the candidates in Payyannur and Taliparamba. “The selection of candidates in Taliparamba and Payyannur was not decided taking sufficient care,” said the document. But Pinarayi was silent on this aspect and chose to blame party enemies for creating confusion among the public.
Pinarayi said the LDF’s defeat in the constituency was unexpected, as Payyannur was not traditionally considered a seat the front should lose. He said the CPM and the LDF had faced several opposition campaigns and allegations in the past and had successfully overcome them without suffering any major setback.
He recalled that the CPM had emerged stronger from such periods of internal conflict, despite its opponents and sections of the right-wing media expecting the party to collapse.
He said some people working at the leadership level had come into contact with the party’s political opponents, who viewed the CPM with hostility and sought to weaken and destroy it. Such developments had created a sense of suspicion among the people who had traditionally stood with the party.
Pinarayi said the CPM always tries to identify and correct its mistakes in such situations. However, he said these efforts had not succeeded in Payyannur. The party had made efforts at different levels to correct the mistakes, but instead of addressing them, they committed further mistakes.
He alleged that a person in a leadership position had acted with the intention of weakening the party and had shared inside information with political opponents. This had created doubts among the party’s supporters, Pinarayi said.
“The efforts of the party’s enemies and the actions of some within the leadership aimed at weakening the organisation came together. A major propaganda campaign was launched as part of this effort….They have now achieved it. We have been defeated,” he said. Referring to Payyannur MLA V Kunhikrishnan, Pinarayi said the latter had “become a weapon in the hands of the enemy”.