Unrest erupts in Kerala LDF after poll defeat and election cyber attack backfires

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Overt and covert criticism from within the Left Democratic Front (LDF) holding the Pinarayi Vijayan government responsible for the LDF’s poor performance in the Kerala Assembly elections and the cyber attacks during the election campaign that backfired on the CPM has created unrest within the LDF.

With the CPM leadership beginning a five-day meeting from Sunday to take a detailed assessment of the election results, discontent against the Vijayan government is likely to grow within the party.

It’s not just that the LDF managed to win just one of Kerala’s 20 assembly seats, but also how the BJP has made inroads in many of the CPM’s strongholds. The LDF, which came to power in 2021 by winning 99 seats, is now leading in only 18 assembly constituencies.

Vijayan recently reiterated in Parliament that the LDF’s poor performance in the Kerala Lok Sabha elections was due to the Congress’ dominance in taking on the BJP at the national level and that his government’s performance had nothing to do with it.

However, this did not go down well with the party leadership in Kerala, where party leaders including state general secretary MV Govindan, former finance minister Thomas Isaac and senior party leader P Jayarajan issued a statement criticising the state government’s failings, particularly the mounting burden of social welfare pensions on over six million vulnerable groups.

Separately, the CPI, the second-largest party in the LDF, has also pointed to the state government’s mismanagement as the reason for its massive defeat in the polls. At a party appraisal meeting, CPI leaders reportedly cited excessive minority appeasement, government ostentatiousness, allegations against Vijayan’s daughter and increasing disbursements to vulnerable sections as reasons.

Community leaders, including SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan, who represents the Hindu Ezhava community, also blamed the CPM’s focus on Muslim appeasement for eroding the party’s vote base among the Ezhava and other backward communities.

Meanwhile, the CPM is also at a disadvantage in the poll-related cyber war.

The CPM had accused the UDF of running a religious-tinged social media campaign targeting former Health Minister KK Shailaja, who was the CPM candidate from Vadakara in north Kerala. However, police recently submitted a report saying that there is no evidence against UDF activists so far. Among those who shared the post was KK Lathika, a senior CPM leader and former MLA. The issue appears to have backfired as she deleted the post on Sunday.

Despite CPM cadres making extensive use of social media platforms for publicity, party leader MV Jayarajan, who lost to Indian National Congress state president K Sudhakaran in Kannur, had said the social media campaign against the party was responsible for its election defeat.