Analysis | Why has CPM opted for a Congress dissident and trenchant CPM critic for Palakkad?

While officially declaring P Sarin as the independent candidate the CPM would back in Palakkad, CPM state secretary M V Govindan on Thursday evening hinted at the thinking that made the party pick the former digital media cell convenor of the Congress and one of its fiercest critics till the other day to fight on its behalf.

In the present context, the CPM considers the former Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) officer the sharpest weapon it could brandish in its fight to hold on to its position as the most secular party in Kerala.

All this while, using ADGP M R Ajithkumar's alleged RSS links and the disruption of Thrissur Pooram, the UDF had assailed the CPM for striking an unholy alliance with the BJP. The party’s attempt to make a big deal out of the Kafir screenshot, showing it up as proof of Congress’s communal tactics, had also backfired.

Now, fresh-out-of-Congress Sarin's insinuation that Shafi Parambil was removed from Palakkad and fielded from Vatakara Lok Sabha constituency to clear the way for the BJP's entry into Kerala Assembly has given the CPM the chance to hit back and reclaim its secular image during the byelection campaign.

"All secular-minded people in Kerala had questioned the Congress decision to remove its sitting MP K Muraleedharan from Vatakara and bring in the MLA from Palakkad to fight Shylaja Teacher," Govindan said.

"Now, people who were part of the decision making process in the Congress have openly confirmed this," the CPM state secretary said, referring to Sarin's remarks that prefaced his entry to the Left camp.

Earlier in the day, while talking to reporters at the Palakkad CPM District Office, Sarin had made long-winded, meandering and slightly incoherent charges of a Congress-BJP deal to gift the Palakkad seat to the BJP.

In simple terms, what Sarin said was that it was mysterious that the Congress chose to pull out Shafi Parambil from Palakkad when there was a growing propaganda that the BJP could easily wrest the Palakkad Assembly seat. He said the claim that BJP would soon win Palakkad was misinformation let loose to cover the Congress-BJP deal.

Sarin also said that it would be unconvincing if Congress said that Shafi was chosen for his secular credentials. He said on the one hand the Congress called it a secular move but on the other it had shifted Shafi from Palakkad knowing fully well that the decision would potentially open the door to the Kerala Assembly for the BJP once again.

This articulation of what he framed as a nefarious Congress-BJP alliance was the "progressive stand" that Govindan referred to when he spoke about what the CPM found attractive in Sarin. "We will align with anyone, even former political opponents, who takes a progressive stand," Govindan said.

The CPM state secretary said that the Nemom seat the BJP won in 2016 was the "contribution" of the Congress. The Thrissur Lok Sabha seat, too, was its "contribution". "The UDF's 86,000 votes went to the BJP," Govindan said, a reference to the fall in K Muraleedharan's votes compared to 2019. And now, Govindan said the Congress is planning to hand over Palakkad to the BJP. It is to amplify this narrative of Congress-BJP nexus, and thus hopefully corner the secular votes, that CPM has opted for Sarin.

The CPM state secretary was unapologetic about fielding a person who till the other day had only unflattering things to say about the CPM. "We had fought together with K Karunakaran and A K Antony. Should we say more," he said.

(Karunakaran had broken away from the Congress and his Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) fought with the LDF during the 2005 local body polls. A K Antony's Congress (A) was part of the E K Nayanar Ministry between 1980 and 1982.). "We are a political front and we cannot function by holding eternal grudges. We will cooperate with anyone who has a progressive stance," Govindan said.