CPI-CPI(M) tussle over Deputy Opposition Leader post in Keralam is a mutiny against Pinarayi Vijayan

The no-holds-barred public wrangling between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Communist Party of India (CPI), the two major constituents of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), over the post of Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Keralam Assembly is not so much about the ‘nominal’ post as it is about the clamour for collective leadership. In other words, it is a mutiny against Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, whose absolute authority has been resented by the CPI over the last decade and a half.

What is new now is that sections of the CPI(M) at the district, area and local committee levels have come to share some of these concerns pertaining to concentration of power, which they think has enfeebled the party and the front and its broad support base, more so in the wake of the crushing defeat suffered by the LDF in the Assembly elections early this year.

This was evident in the post-mortem undertaken by the CPI(M) in what was described by party general secretary M.A. Baby as an honest attempt to get to the root of the reasons for the LDF’s poll debacle. The CPI, too, embarked on a similar exercise in which its leadership faced uneasy questions.

But not everyone in these parties is upbeat about the possible outcomes of the exercise. The lower rungs of the CPI(M), for instance, are peeved about being excluded from the extended State committee meeting in Kozhikode from September 13, although it includes State-level representatives from the party’s mass and class organisations. They are also at a loss to defend the slew of financial allegations against T. Veena, Mr. Vijayan’s daughter.

But the CPI’s grouse is far older and deep-rooted. In the last 10 years, with an LDF government led by Mr. Vijayan in place, there have been several run-ins between the CPI and the CPI(M) over encounter killings of suspected Maoists, the anti-encroachment drive in Munnar, slapping of UAPA, the SilverLine railway project, and the like.

But Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Kanam Rajendran, who helmed their respective parties in the State, were able to bury the hatchet soon. Kanam’s successor, Binoy Viswam, the present CPI State secretary, faced criticism from within initially for kowtowing to Mr. Vijayan.

PM SHRI issue

But the CPI’s stiff opposition to the LDF government signing up for PM SHRI without even a perfunctory discussion within the front opened a new war front, forcing the government to backtrack. CPI(M) leaders accuse the CPI of feigning ideological purity, while the CPI sees the CPI(M) — Mr. Vijayan specifically — as authoritarian and not democratic enough. 

Sources say that Mr. Vijayan, who has been given multiple exemptions by the CPI(M) for organisational and parliamentary roles, will eventually step down from the post of Opposition Leader, but no timeline has been set.

CPI(M) central committee member K.N. Balagopal is the party’s choice for Deputy Leader of the Opposition, while the CPI is rooting for its parliamentary party leader, K. Rajan. The alliance partners are unanimous about the lack of a united Opposition agenda on the floor of the Assembly, which was stark during the first session of the present 16th Assembly.

Against Mr. Vijayan’s assertion of having a CPI(M) Deputy Leader of the Opposition, LDF convener T.P. Ramakrishnan was more diplomatic, choosing the path of dialogue. The CPI, meanwhile, remains unrelenting in its demand for a change. Veteran leader C. Divakaran says nobody has a monopoly over the Left. Clearly, the guns are trained on Mr. Vijayan.