LIKE MOST WHATSAPP jokes, this one, too, is high on exaggeration, but it is not entirely far-fetched: “Aspirants in the Congress in Kerala have been fighting with each other to get a Lok Sabha seat. But ever since the CPI(M) named its candidates, they are fighting to get out of the list.’’
Jokes apart, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front seems to have come up with its best possible list of candidates. The CPI(M) is repeating six of its seven MPs and has nominated four MLAs. The list also has two former Rajya Sabha MPs and three former MLAs.
The results are crucial for the CPI(M), which has only nine Lok Sabha MPs now. It needs a good show in Kerala to retain its national party status. The oft-repeated taunt that “the CPI(M) has become a Kerala party’’ rings truer than ever. Kerala is the only state where the party is in power and the survival of the entire mainstream left movement depends on its performance in the state. Hence, the CPI(M) is following a different strategy in Kerala. Usually, the party acts as a glue that brings together anti-BJP forces nationally, often under the Congress umbrella. But in Kerala, the CPI(M) clearly knows its enemy.
“The Congress is our main opponent in Kerala,’’ said CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. About the party’s likely strategy to support the Congress at the Centre, he said the left’s support would have a constructive influence on policy-making, like it happened during the first United Progressive Alliance government.
But the left’s decision to field MLAs has been criticised by the Congress. “The CPI(M) used to ridicule us whenever we had put up MLAs. Now they are doing the same. It shows a lack of morality,’’ said state Congress president Mullappally Ramachandran. “It exposes the fact that the CPI(M) is short of good candidates.’’
The Congress and the BJP, however, are yet to come up with their list of candidates. While most senior Congress leaders are reluctant to contest, the BJP is finding it difficult to identify good candidates. “The CPI(M) has certainly come up with its best,’’ said R. Mohan, a political commentator.
Certain names in the CPI(M) list, however, have attracted criticism. “It is unfortunate to see some names which have got nothing to do with the left or its ideology. People like P.V. Anwar (the nominee for the Ponnani seat) and actor Innocent, who have taken anti-women positions many a time, should not have found a place on the list,’’ said activist and writer M.N. Pearson.
The CPI(M), however, said the only criteria it had in mind was winnability. “It is in the interest of the country that the left’s presence in Parliament is increased,’’ said M.B. Rajesh, the MP from Palakkad. “Defeating the Narendra Modi-led BJP is the most important thing now,” he said. “For that, we may support the Congress nationally. But the importance of the left can be understood if you see the difference between UPA-I, which introduced the Right to Information Act, the Right to Education Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and the UPA-II, which is remembered only for its corruption.”