Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] will participate in the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) deliberations without necessarily being a constituent of the coordination committee.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Vijayan said the CPI(M) would cooperate with the forum without being an inside partner in the anti-BJP alliance. CPI(M) leaders will hold talks with INDIA leaders. Nevertheless, the CPI(M) would not be part of the bloc’s organisational apparatus. It would maintain its separate identity and toe the party line while collaborating with the front.
Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan had alleged that the CPI(M)’s Kerala leadership, out of spite for Congress, headed off the national leadership’s move to join the INDIA bloc.
He said some CPI(M) leaders facing prosecution by Central agencies on charges of money laundering and corruption had orchestrated the decision to toss out the INDIA bloc to avoid provoking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre.
Mr. Vijayan said Mr. Satheesan was at times prone to misjudgement. “The CPI(M)’s decisions are not hostage to any individual leader of a particular State or regional unit. Mr. Satheesan should know better than to make such delusional comments,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan attributed the Congress’s emphatic win in the Puthuppally byelection to the overwhelming sympathy for the late Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s son and political heir, Chandy Oommen.
The byelection campaign unfolded in the immediate aftermath of the incumbent’s death. The emotive element subsumed other election issues, including lack of development and larger politics.
