THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : In a rare development, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his government came under sharp criticism at the CPM state committee meeting on Tuesday, as several leaders squarely blamed them for the LDF’s humiliating defeat in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Rejecting public utterances of some leaders, those who spoke at the state committee meeting convened to review the Lok Sabha election results asserted that a high-intensity anti-incumbency sentiment against the state government swept across the state triggering the LDF’s poll debacle.
Sources said a few leaders singled out the chief minister’s style of functioning for the failure.
In an apparent reference to the controversial remarks by LDF convener E P Jayarajan, they said such slips of tongue by some leaders too had contributed to the severe drubbing in the elections.
Some of them felt that though the second Pinarayi government implemented a slew of welfare measures, the government failed to ensure that their benefits actually reached the masses. The report presented by CPM state secretary M V Govindan observed that the Nava Kerala Sadas didn’t quite yield the desired results.
It further noted that the delay in distributing welfare pensions contributed significantly to the LDF’s poor poll performance. Both the state government and the LDF failed to effectively communicate to the masses the fact that the welfare pensions were delayed due to the Union government’s neglect towards Kerala, the report pointed out. “Some leaders, especially those who spoke from northern districts, was highly critical of the state government. While Nava Kerala Sadas failed to yield the desired results, a slew of allegations including those related to the death of Sidharthan and
the Nava Kerala Sadas had a negative impact. Similarly, Muslim appeasement by the party was highly visible throughout the campaign. Had the government taken some steps to address pension delay and shortage of supplies at Supplyco outlets, the scenario would have been different,” said a source.
Call for immediate corrective measures
Most of the speakers demanded immediate corrective measures. The two-day party secretariat meet on Saturday and Sunday had decided to bring in guidelines for course correction. The party had also decided to look into vote erosion in Left strongholds.
Speaking at the state committee meet, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechurty too pointed out that there’s a general criticism that anti-incumbency against the state government was a major factor for the LDF’s defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.