In the run-up to the Kerala Assembly elections, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) faces the challenge of having to confront insurgents in four of its major strongholds in the state coupled with the prospect of anti-incumbency due to its presence in power for the past decade.
Although it is largely seen as a party with disciplined cadres that rarely step out of line, four leaders from within the ranks of the CPI(M), including one who has had a six-decade association with the party, are challenging both the organization and its leadership on grounds that include nepotism, financial embezzlement and a lack of idealism. G Sudhakaran in Ambalappuzha, V Kunhikrishnan in Payyanur, T K Govindan in Taliparamba and PK Sasi in Ottapalam are the leaders of the rebel CPI(M) who filed their nomination as independents, with the support of the Congress party-led UDF.
The biggest challenge lies in Ambalapuzha, a constituency in Alappuzha district, where Sudhakaran, a two-time former minister and four-time MLA and CPI(M) state committee member, is pitted against MLA H Salam and BJP’s Arun Anirudhan. Earlier this month, he refused to renew his membership within the party, claiming that he felt “humiliated and neglected.” The CPI(M) leadership took disciplinary action against Sudhakaran on the grounds that he worked against the party’s candidate in Ambalapuzha during the 2021 elections, allegations rejected by the veteran leader.
In the 15 elections held in Ambalapuzha since 1967, the Left and its allies have won 12 times while the opposition Congress has won three times, most recently in 2001. The UDF believes that its support for Sudhakaran as an independent will strengthen the anti-CPI(M) vote and erode a section of the party’s core voter base.
Two rebels – V Konnikrishnan and T K Govindan – are in the fray in Payyannur and Taliparamba constituencies respectively – in Kannur district, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) stronghold in north Kerala. The party was undefeated in Payyannur, while it lost only once in Taliparamba since 1967.
Kunnikrishnan, the party’s local committee member in Kannur, came out publicly in January this year alleging that several leaders, including MLA TI Madhusoodanan, had misappropriated party funds collected for the family of a martyr and for building the district committee office in Payyannur. The CPI(M) responded saying that all the funds collected were properly counted and audited.
“I have no other option but to fight as an independent,” Kunnikrishnan told reporters on March 16. “This is a fight against corruption.” But the constituency calculations are not on Konnikrishnan’s side. In the 2021 elections, the Communist Party of India candidate won with a majority of more than 49,000 votes.
In Taliparamba, TK Govindan, district secretariat member of CPI(M), entered the fray by protesting against the party’s decision to field PK Shyamala, a senior leader and wife of party state secretary MV Govindan, who is also the sitting MLA from the constituency. The MLA chose to withdraw from the electoral race due to his organizational commitments. T K Govindan claimed that Shyamala, former mayor of Anthur municipality and a senior leader of the party’s women’s wing, was not the preferred choice among majority of party leaders in the district and that their votes were overlooked.
Govindan’s candidacy was supported by the UDF hoping to storm the CPI(M) stronghold.
The fourth rebel is PK Sasi, the party’s former district committee leader, in Ottapalam constituency in Palakkad district, where the Communist Party of India (Maoist) won 10 of the 12 seats in the 2021 assembly elections. Sasi, a former MLA from Chunnur, had stayed away from party affairs for the past eight years after he was provisionally suspended in 2018 for misbehaving with a woman party member. His attendance at a meeting of CPI(M) rebels in March forced the party to expel him from primary membership.
Although Sasi was scheduled to join the Congress and contest the polls under the party, the UDF eventually decided to support him as an independent in Ottapalam, a constituency where a Congress MLA was last elected in 1987. Sasi now faces CPI(M) MLA K Premkumar and BJP’s Major Ravi.
G Prabhash, former professor of political science at Kerala University, said this is the first time in history that such a large number of senior leaders of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) have rebelled against the party in the Assembly elections.
“The nomination of the rebels and the support extended by the UDF will definitely impact the CPI(Maoist) in these seats and outside them. They may be party strongholds, but if there are strong anti-incumbency winds, two or three of them may win. Apart from these seats, there is a section of Left sympathizers who feel the UDF government should not come back at any cost. The rebels will inspire them to vote against the party,” Prabhash told HT.
“There is a feeling that all decisions in the party are taken by a select few and there is anger among cadres against this. So all the issues (misuse of party funds and nepotism) will instil confidence among cadres to vote against the government,” he added.
