NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will lead the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF’s) campaign for the Assembly election in Kerala, the Communist party of India-Marxist (CPM) general secretary MA Baby declared on Friday. He also reiterated that the party would not name a chief ministerial candidate before the election results, as this has been the tradition in the past.
Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, after a Polit Bureau meeting, Baby clarified that while Vijayan would be spearheading the election campaign, the decision pertaining to his candidature or any other members wanting to contest the upcoming elections in the state, would be taken in a democratic manner after the consultations with district committees by first week of March.
“At no point of time, CPM or the LDF used to declare a chief ministerial candidate. The present CM Pinarai will lead the election campaign… As and when we get the majority, we will win, we will take the decision (on CM). This is how we always decide. You will get the answers who are all contesting in the due course as we are going to have meetings after the first week of March,” said Baby.
However, party sources have suggested that the party will field all sitting MLAs.
On selection criteria, Baby said that the party would accommodate all sections of the society; youth, women, marginalised communities and the list of candidates would be a mix of young and seasoned leaders based on their winnability.
“The criteria is that there should be youth, seasoned leaders, enough women, marginalised sections in society. They should be able to see that our representatives are there. The candidates should be able to win that seat for CPM…. Every party member, irrespective of which party committee she or he runs, all of them will be considered,” Baby said.
Elections in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will be held in the next few months as the tenures of their respective assemblies are due to end in May and June.
Responding to questions on Congress, which has decided to go solo in West Bengal Assembly elections, Baby exuded confidence of winning seats in the upcoming polls in the state. “Political parties come to some understanding, eventually based on the willingness of both parties. So, there could have been discussion, there could have been various considerations….I don’t want to kind of pass a comment, whether this is good results or this is not something positive. Elections will prove. People will not speak about that. We are definitely going to improve the electoral performance of the left front,” he said.
He also said that the efforts are on to expand the Left front.
“We are expanding the left front. CPI-(Marxist–Leninist) Liberation) is becoming part of the front. We are having discussion with a few others—three--four leftist groups. And there is a positive result,” the CPM general secretary added.
On seat sharing in Assam, Baby said that two seats including the one, which was won by the CPM, had already been allocated to his party. “Discussion with Congress is still on. We are expecting more seats. It will soon be clear how many seats we will get,” the Left party leader said.