KOCHI: In a role reversal of Kerala’s well-tested electoral playbook, the Congress-led UDF is now weighing an “independent experiment” inside traditional Left strongholds by fielding leaders who have parted ways with the CPM or the LDF.
For decades, the LDF refined this strategy to breach UDF bastions, particularly in Malappuram and parts of central Kerala, by backing leaders with Congress or UDF lineage as independents. Now, with factional churn within the Left and localised discontent in select “red fortress” segments, the UDF appears keen to deploy the same tactic in reverse.
In a significant move, the UDF has decided to extend support to a set of dissident CPM leaders, marking a sharp inversion of the Left’s long-standing “independent experiment”. The front is backing expelled CPM Kannur district committee member V Kunhikrishnan, former senior CPM leader T K Govindan, and veteran leader G Sudhakaran, who recently snapped his six-decade-long association with the party.
All three are contesting as independent candidates in Payyannur, Taliparamba and Ambalappuzha, respectively. Another instance was UDF’s decision to extend support to P K Sasi, who chose to contest from the Ottappalam constituency as an independent candidate. The CPM had expelled the dissident leader and former MLA from the party after he participated in a meeting of dissidents in Palakkad.
Kunhikrishnan was expelled in January after he publicly raised allegations of financial irregularities in the collection and utilisation of funds, including those linked to a martyr’s fund. Govindan severed ties with the party in protest against the decision to field P K Shyamala, wife of CPM state secretary M V Govindan, in the Taliparamba constituency. A two-time cabinet minister and four-time MLA, Sudhakaran chose not to renew his party membership, citing years of deliberate isolation and sustained social media attacks.
Senior Congress leader Pradeep Kumar M, who was the Congress’s candidate in Payyannur in 2021, told the TNIE, “The decision to back expelled leaders in CPM bastions may help the UDF. In Payyannur, there is a chance of a surprise win for the independent candidate if all stand united against the CPM candidate. This is not about crossing ideological lines, but about candidate acceptability and local arithmetic.”
In the 2021 assembly elections, Pradeep Kumar secured 43,915 votes, while CPM candidate T I Madhusoodanan polled 93,695 votes. Another advantage for UDF is Congress’ decision to grant membership to A Suresh, an expelled CPM leader and former personal assistant to the late Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, and to field him from the Malampuzha constituency.