The CPI has just overtaken the Congress as the party that served in the Kerala government for the most days. As on April 19, the junior partner in the Left Democratic Front has completed 11,900 days in power, matching the record of the Congress.
The track record factors in the days of the undivided CPI that ruled the state for 24 months since April 1957 under E M S Namboodiripad. The bulk of the party split to form the CPM in 1964.
The CPI, however, retained power for 12 years since 1967, initially as part of a CPM-led coalition and later latching on to the Congress and the Kerala Congress. CPI’s C Achutha Menon was chief minister for 2,364 days during the term of the fourth legislative assembly as the proclamation of a national emergency in 1975 resulted inthe suspension of elections until 1977.
Though the CPI shared power with the CPM for two years after the split, it secured the Congress support to rule the state from 1969 and 1977. Achutha Menon became the chief minister for two terms. CPI’s tryst at the top was continued when part leader P K Vasudevann Nair became the chief minister from 1978 to 1979
This period is considered the CPI’s golden age in Indian politics. The party had ruled only Kerala.
In 1979, the Left parties decided to work together. The CPI teamed up with the CPM in the assembly election of 1980. The communist parties have been allies since then.
The two coalitions formed in 1980 have alternated in power. The CPI has joined the governments led by E K Nayanar, V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan.
The CPI has contributed three chief ministers and 34 ministers to Kerala. Nine of them have secured a second chance in the cabinet. The CPI stands out amid the other parties with its insistence on selecting fresh faces as ministers.
