THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the Congress trio of K C Venugopal, Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan seem to be busy rooting for chief ministership in UDF, the rival Left camp has no such confusion as incumbent Pinarayi Vijayan remains its sole face.
Set to be 81 next month, the Kannur strongman has been CPM’s unquestionable leader for more than a decade, especially after he single-handedly led the party to an unprecedented second term in power.
It goes without saying that a historic Pinarayi 3.0 is what the Left front has been pitching to the masses. Yet, there seems to be a bigger question – irrespective of victory or defeat, who else can lead the LDF?
In a way, the question is a pointer to a visibly feeble second-tier leadership and a dearth of leaders with state-wide appeal in the CPM.
“Going by internal calculations, LDF would obtain anything between 72-76 seats. Hence there’s no question of who would lead the front, in case of a defeat. We have a collective leadership. If required, leadership will emerge in time. It’s not yet time to look for a successor,” a senior CPM leader exuded confidence.
“This is a question in everyone’s mind; but one without answers,” added another.
Even as Left leaders insist it’s too early for such a discussion, a succession plan in the CPM has long been in limbo. This was not the case when Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was alive.
It was widely accepted that Kodiyeri would be the potential successor to Pinarayi. M V Govindan who succeeded Kodiyeri as state secretary, hasn’t been quite able to fill the vacuum left by the late leader.
While a slew of leaders including M V Govindan, P Rajeeve, K N Balagopal and K K Shailaja were perceived to be next in line in the party and government, none of them can be termed as a natural successor to Pinarayi.
Now, with assembly election results hardly a week away, there are reports of hush-hush discussions on what next. Senior Left leaders feel that Pinarayi would continue to be the sole leader, irrespective of poll outcome.
“In case of a defeat too, Pinarayi would be the first choice. Right now there’s no one else - either in the party or even within the front - to even consider. In fact, this is a major concern for both the CPM and LDF. Ideally, this shouldn’t have been the scenario. No second line has been nurtured within the CPM. Many of them are even afraid to talk about a successor,” felt a senior Left leader.
In fact, the CPM leadership did sense such an impending challenge long back, and that’s how an array of youngsters including M Swaraj, P K Biju and Mohammed Riyaz were brought into the party secretariat in 2022 itself.
Yet, none of them occupy the central space in discussions about a succession plan. Notably, the Jayarajan trio from Kannur is conspicuously absent in discussions, even though two of them are part of the secretariat.
“The CPM has long been led by leaders from Kannur. Now M V Govindan is the secretary. Pinarayi is not only the tallest leader with mass appeal, but also the only one with an iron grip within the party,” pointed out Left commentator N M Pearson who feels that barring major surprises, Pinarayi would continue to lead for some more time.