One smiling face in Left

The Left defeat in Kerala has come as a severe drubbing to CPIM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan who had pushed his own agenda within the party as well as the LDF before the polls. The rout would put Vijayan on the defensive,while giving a breather to Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan.

Except,Suresh Kurup,who was defeated in Kottayam,the party candidates were all Vijayans men. In Kozhikode,Kannur and Ernakulam,he foisted candidates disregarding protests. The alliance with Abdul Nasser Madhani to nibble into the Muslim vote bank was also his plan.

It was Vijayans policy to silence his rivals within the LDF that paved the way for the ouster of the JDS from the LDF. His personal grudge towards JDS state president M P Veerendrakumar was at the crux of the deadlock between the two allies.

The CPI,which lost the four seats it contested,would now try to reject Vijayans supremacy in the LDF,while the debacle of CPIM candidates would trigger a review within the party.