THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the CPM enters the campaign mode harbouring hopes of a second straight term in office, anger is boiling over regarding candidate selection and seat sharing.
On a day when the CPM secretariat finalised candidates, the state witnessed open protests in Ponnani and Kuttiyadi in addition to strong resentment within a section of supporters over exclusion of leaders with proven mass appeal.
There have been protests and poster campaigns in Alappuzha against the exclusion of G Sudhakaran and Thomas Isaac. On the other hand, allotting safe seats like Ranni, Kuttiyadi and Changanassery to KC(M) Jose K Mani faction has not gone down well with the cadre.
In some places, workers are unhappy with ‘parachuting’ candidates without mass appeal.
Curiously, the protests in Ponnani are not for Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan. Workers feel the party has named P Nandakumar without taking them into confidence as they want district leader T M Siddique to contest.
Similarly, the ground-level workers favour K P Kunjammad Kutty as CPM candidate in Kuttiyadi while the party gave the seat to KC(M). The candidate selection in seats like Kottarakkara too has raised
eyebrows.
If resentment in the district leadership resulted in replacing A K Balan’s wife P K Jameela in Tarur, the protests in Alappuzha in favour of Sudhakaran and Isaac have not made any impact.
Observers consider the party’s so-called reformist approach suicidal, especially when it is eyeing a second term. Some feel the whole narrative could be a conspiracy to keep people like Isaac away.
Even as the CPM tries to project the two-term norm, the party finds it difficult to explain the exclusion of P Jayarajan.
Criticism over CPM’s 2-term norm
The CPM leadership decided to go strictly by the two-term norm taking a cue from West Bengal, where the party was washed out after a decades-long rule.
Taking the same parameter in a crucial poll would not be advisable at this juncture, feel many.
“Exemptions have become a norm of late and hence it’s good that the party decided to strictly enforce two terms. At the same time, not giving exemptions to some dissenting voices like P Jayarajan and Isaac appears to be a deliberate move to silence dissent,” observed Left commentator N M Pearson.
Noted writer N S Madhavan came out against the CPM decision.
In an obvious reference to the norm but without mentioning the CPM, Madhavan tweeted that political parties maintain unbelievable ignorance about the state and elections.
“Election has just one target --- winning. It should not be a leadership development programme or lottery for freshers,” he tweeted.
Noted political observer J Prabhash too felt the party’s decision originates from a dearth of internal democracy.
“The CPM has been affected by the Sultan democracy syndrome. A miniscule section of the party’s rank and file is not ready to accept it lying low. This is what happens within the CPM. To some extent it could even affect the Left’s prospects of returning to power,” he said.
Even as the party has been enforcing the two-term norm, it is not following another decision to not field those who lost the last Lok Sabha polls.
Four candidates — K N Balagopal, P Rajeev, M B Rajesh and V N Vasavan in addition to Aranmula MLA Veena Geroge — have been included in the list.
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