Red faces in Left over full-page ads of Pinarayi Vijayan’s swearing-in ceremony

“The government was sworn in today. How can the government be held accountable before that… We will have to see what it is all about, how it happened,” said CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who attended the swearing-in ceremony in Thiruvananthapuram today.

“I have not seen the advertisements. I was in Kolkata. I went to Kerala from there,” he said.

“Instead of saying Vijayan government, it would have been appropriate if the advertisement had said LDF government. Generally, this type of personality cult is not there in the Communist and Left parties. Personality cult should not be encouraged,” said CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy. “One need not spend so much money on such advertisements,” he said.

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The advertisement, with Vijayan’s photograph against a red background, had the tag line, “Committed to turn Kerala into a truly God’s own country”. Listing the new goverment’s priorities, it said, “The Pinarayi Vijayan government is committed to keep its promises.”

Sources in the CPI(M) and CPI pointed out that the alliance had fought the elections unitedly. And more than Vijayan, it was V S Achuthanandan who was seen as the face of the Left campaign.

“He (Achuthanandan) has taken the party’s decision to make Vijayan the chief minister graciously. He has not said anything so far. On the other hand, such attempts are being made to project Vijayan. It does not augur well for the party and the government,” said a senior CPI(M) leader. “It was an unnecessary controversy even before the government assumed office,” he said.