Mararikulam in lush and verdant Alappuzha has been voted in 2024 and 2025 among India's most welcoming destinations by a world-renowned online travel agency.
Even more warmly welcomed in this beach village have been the Communists.
So, in 1996, when VS Achuthanandan—then the frontrunner to be the next Chief Minister of Kerala—stood for election from the constituency, everyone expected an easy win. His main opponent Advocate PJ Francis too was resigned to the possibility of a third successive Assembly election defeat as he entered the fray. Some Malayalam media houses, in fact, termed Francis a 'Nercha Kozhi' (sacrificial chicken).
"Alappuzha was a Communist bastion and Mararikulam its fort at that time. If the Congress arranged a public function, it should end before sunset those days. Otherwise, those who attended would definitely face an attack by CPM workers. So, I had never thought about victory till the results came out," Francis told The New Indian Express' Biju E Paul in an interview given 25 years later.
But in a village famous for its coir weavers, there was to be a knotty twist.
1996, it must be remembered, was the year when the CPM leadership came in the way of Jyoti Basu accepting the Prime Ministership at the Centre. In Kerala, factionalism would rear its head and tear Achuthanandan's Chief Ministerial ambitions to shreds. That the then 72-year-old leader had no inkling of what was brewing till the very end made the sting of betrayal all the more painful for him.
Achuthanandan, it must be conceded, could not have been faulted for being confident. He had won from Mararikulam in 1991 by a margin of 9980 votes. This had been his highest victory margin in an assembly election till then.
Mararikulam had also stayed with the Communist bloc ever since the first Kerala state assembly election in 1957. And in 1996, VS was riding a wave.
Keener on ensuring his party's win in the assembly elections and secure in his belief that he would prevail in his safe seat, VS dedicated himself more to campaigning across the state than at Mararikulam. The orchestration of his campaign in the constituency was left to the LDF committee that had been formed for it.
But simmering beneath the surface was a factional feud between the CITU-backed lobby and VS' own Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union. Interestingly, VS was the lone state politburo member to stand in the election. Had he ended up turning himself into a target needlessly?
This question would bob up repeatedly once the election results came in.
PJ Francis ended up polling 68302 votes and Achuthanandan 66377 votes, leaving the Congress candidate the winner by 1965 votes in the constituency.
Initially, there was talk of whether former Communist giant Gouri Amma and her Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi's alignment with the Congress had a part to play in the defeat. But VS was reported by The New Indian Express on May 10 (two days after the results) as dismissing it, noting that if that factor had been potent enough, the LDF wouldn't have won the Ambalapuzha, Kayankulam and Haripad seats that also fell in Alappuzha district. Achuthanandan also refused to buy into the theory that a Latin Catholic vote consolidation was to blame.
"The party will unravel the reasons for the defeat while it takes stock of our performance in the state polls," he was reported as saying, while remaining diplomatic.
In the opposing camp, such niceties weren't followed.
Congress stalwart and then Union Industries minister K Karunakaran when asked about his son K Muraleedharan trailing from the Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency accused (then Kerala Chief Minister) Antony's men of backstabbing. In an election where Congress suffered many reverses, Karunakaran himself would go on to lose from the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat by 1480 votes.
With the LDF winning 80 seats in the 140-member state assembly, the CPM got the chance to elect the Chief Minister as had been expected before the election. But Achuthanandan's shock defeat meant that despite being projected as the Chief Ministerial face during the campaign, he was in danger of being suddenly sidelined.
Other names like those of Suseela Gopalan and TK Ramakrishnan began to do the rounds. There was also a section in the party who were reported to be in favour of Achuthanandan being given a shot at the Chief Ministership by floating his candidature from Punalur, a seat set to see an election due to the death of its MLA PK Sreenivasan of the Communist Party of India.
In the end, EK Nayanar was named the Chief Minister for a third time with VS' tacit support. Nayanar would go on to notch up a record 10 years, 11 months and 22 days at the state's helm before he stepped down in 2001 after losing the election.
As for Achuthanandan, he went all the way to the Supreme Court, accusing his rival PJ Francis of "corrupt practice committed in the interest of the returned candidate by his agents, election agents or the returned candidate himself". But it was to little avail.
VS went on to settle scores two years later. TK Palani, the secretary of the LDF election committee constituted for his campaign, and CK Bhaskaran, the Mararikulam CPM area secretary, were both disciplined and pushed down to branch committees. They would stay out of favour with the party's leadership from then on.
Achuthanandan went on to refashion himself after the defeat, transforming from a party ideologue into a mass leader who did not hesitate to question the party and its leaders when needed. The Chief Ministership finally came calling in 2006 and he also went on to have the distinction of leading his party to victory in 2016 at the grand old age of 92. The life story Kerala's most famous tailor stitched together from humble beginnings is now part of the state's folklore.
