Thiruvananthapuram: It looks like in the CPM district committee meetings held across Kerala to take stock of the Lok Sabha elections results, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's is the image comrades have chosen for target shooting. Even the All India Youth Federation, the students' wing of the CPI, has trained its guns on the Chief Minister.

There is not much support for the Chief Minister from among LDF MLAs inside the Assembly either. Even opposition leader V D Satheesan had found this amusing. A fortnight ago, in mock surprise, he asked why not a single minister had come out in support of the Chief Minister when he made the "idiot" remark against Geevarghese Mar Coorilose, former Metropolitan of Niranam Diocese of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church. "There was only poor Riyas (the tourism minister) to rush to the CM's rescue," he had said with evident glee.

Curiously, even fanboys like M M Mani or NCP MLA Thomas K Thomas did not seem eager to defend the Chief Minister during this Assembly session. Not even former minister K T Jaleel, one of Pinarayi's closest confidants. The former minister’s speech in the Assembly this session had not a word for Pinarayi.

Mani’s dignified avatar
Like Jaleel, M M Mani, too, did not mention Pinarayi's name during his speech. What’s more, he was also subtly critical of the second Pinarayi ministry. On June 27, during one of the discussions on the Budget when UDF legislators unleashed sharp and vicious political attacks against the LDF government, particularly the Chief Minister, Mani was concerned solely about the grave danger posed by the rise of the BJP.

And on the day, he demonstrated a political solemnity that has seldom been associated with him. "I just want to remind the House that both the LDF and the UDF should consider this issue with the seriousness that it demands," he said.

Then came his note of caution. "We should not lose sight of the fact that the first Pinarayi ministry returned to power only because it had implemented social welfare measures," he said, a remark widely interpreted as his way of saying that the second Pinarayi Ministry has failed to do so. Mani repeated this point at least thrice during his 8-minute speech.

If Mani is known for his vicious counterattack of Pinarayi baiters in the Assembly, Kuttanad MLA Thomas K Thomas stood apart for his cringe-inducing praise of the CM whenever he stood up to speak in the Assembly.

Thomas spoke highly of Pinarayi this session, too, but this time his words were more consolation than praise. "You only speak of the faults but you don't seem to acknowledge what Pinarayi Vijayan did during COVID," he told the UDF benches during the budget discussion on June 26.

More than a eulogy, this was Thomas saying that Pinarayi of the first LDF ministry was worthy of praise. This is an oblique way of saying that Pinarayi II does have problems.

Udumbanchola conundrum
More than Jaleel's or Thomas's, it is Mani's seeming indifference towards Pinarayi that is particularly significant. The Udumbanchola MLA, whose control over his tongue can give sleep-talkers a superiority complex, always had an encouraging listener in Pinarayi.

In 2022, for instance, when Mani made an inconsiderate reference to K K Rema's widowhood, the Chief Minister said he had not heard Mani saying anything that was "factually incorrect". These words the CM okayed were later called "primitive, feudal, chauvinistic and unacceptable" by then-Speaker M B Rajesh. Even when Mani made coarse remarks against the women's collective 'Pembilai Orumai' in 2017, Pinarayi said there was nothing wrong with what he had said.

However, post-elections, Mani has seemingly thought it unnecessary to stand up for the Chief Minister during the most vulnerable phase of his political life. This is not to say that the CM was left to his fate by all his men.

Arrogance redefined
There definitely was P V Anvar, the highly controversial CPM-backed Independent MLA from Nilambur. "The election loss this time is attributed to the Chief Minister's arrogance. What is it about the Chief Minister's arrogance?" Anvar said. "It is this arrogance that has made all the good things happen in our state. It is this arrogance that saved the lives of lakhs during COVID. If more than four lakh homeless got a roof over their heads, it is only because of Pinarayi's arrogance. We will continue with this arrogance," he said.

Anvar also sounded enraged that the CM was being isolated. "If anti-incumbency is the reason for the LDF's failure, how is the Chief Minister alone to be blamed," he asked. "All of us are responsible. All the ministers here are responsible. Everyone should jointly take up the responsibility. When everything goes right, everyone takes credit and when things go wrong, Pinarayi is singled out for attack. This is unacceptable," he said, in a thinly veiled rebuke of those joining the growing anti-Pinarayi clamour in the LDF.