THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Briefing the media on Friday, CPM state chief Kodiyeri Balakrishnan appeared more than eager to present a united and confident front. In fact, it was a deliberate move by CPM to project a united Left face, as the current row can best be tided over only if fought together. He did his best, but it was apparent there’s discontent brewing in the LDF. And the epicentre is none other than the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the CPM strongman.
It is no secret that even party cadre find it hard to get an entry into the CMO, while white-collared executives go in and out of the third floor of the Secretariat’s North Block. Even more so since the departure of CPM state committee member M V Jayarajan, who served as the CM’s private secretary for a brief period. That’s why the sudden surge in demand that he be brought back. When M V Jayarajan was there, the party had access to the CMO, sources said.
“He might not come back, but there will be some important changes. There’s some discontent within the party. There’s no one who can stand up to him (Pinarayi) and challenge him. But today there were some remarks,” said a senior CPM leader. The Kerala CPM has long been under the shadow of Pinarayi who is also one of its longest-serving secretary. Though there were factional feuds within the party earlier, it was Pinarayi who literally put an end to it by the 2015 state conference when the V S Achuthanandan faction was decimated. Now with both the party and government under his control, there’s no one around to question his authority. Though the party central leadership has not been happy with certain things, it has, noticeably, only a limited say.
But the Sabarimala fiasco when the Left made some major goof-ups brought out the discontent for probably the first time. Some leaders had obliquely indicated that the party line at the time was not correct. After the Lok Sabha poll debacle, the party had to admit that Sabarimala factor led to its defeat. Even when Pinarayi maintained that the government stance was correct, the party was bold enough to correct him.
The Sprinklr row was the next big thing. Open dissent from the CPI and the party central leadership forced the government to rethink. Even then, Pinarayi was keen to protect his secretary M Sivasankar. “Once he takes someone into confidence, it’s very difficult to change that. He trusts them completely to the extend that he may not even correct them,” said a fellow CPM leader.
That’s why Left leaders feel that the party should exercise more control over Pinarayi after the smuggling controversy. “Had he replaced Sivasankar when the CPI had raised the issue during Sprinklr, this embarrassment could have been avoided. But he was adamant. Now the Left has to pay the price,” said another leader.
Kodiyeri, who has not been active for some time, is slowly getting back into active politics. The party is also all set to exert more control over CMO. With no other leader of Pinarayi’s stature in sight, there won’t exactly be a clamour for leadership change in CPM for at least the time being. But things may not to be rosy as the coming weeks unfold.