Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan with state ministers and party leaders at a rally. File photoThiruvananthapuram: The CPM would be searching for ways to stay relevant in national politics when the party's top bodies meet in the Kerala capital this week.
The party does not expect to mark its presence in upcoming elections to five states including the crucial Uttar Pradesh. It has failed to build on the rare bonhomie with other opposition parties in Parliament.
And the party leadership has no clue about the future course other than the previous central committee's plan to intensify agitations.
The party organization is too weak in Uttar Pradesh, as the central plenum rightly admitted. It has only 11 district committees in the state. The central committee and politburo meetings in Thiruvananthapuram will analyze the situation in Uttar Pradesh in the backdrop of the power tussle in the largest state.
Of the other poll-bound states, only Punjab offers at least a foothold to the party. However, factionalism in the unit has dimmed the party’s prospects. Two state secretaries were shown the door in Punjab.
CPM leaders M.A. Baby, Prakash Karat, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Congress (S) leader Kadannappally Ramachandran and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. File photoThe CPI is also struggling to make inroads at the national level. The national executive and council meetings of the party held in Hyderabad last week could not adopt a plan for the coming elections. The CPI cannot digest an alliance with the Congress. The party, however, decided to observe Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary as "Defend Secularism Day".
The CPM can no longer coordinate the political opposition against the BJP-led government. Of course, the politburo called for all democratic, secular parties to line up against Narendra Modi's demonetization drive a week into the shock announcement in November.
The party joined the other five Left parties to observe a week of protest at the national level and a protest day in association with the Congress and other political parties. However, the Congress unit in Kerala refused to play ball.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury. File photoThe party was not game for the CPM's call for a hartal in the state against the central government’s program. The opposition unity was in tatters the moment Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi went to meet Modi.
However, that was not the only reason for the CPM to stay away from the meeting convened by the Congress. The party cannot think of a joint front that includes its arch rival Mamata Banerjee.
The CPM's biggest block is a lack of unity in the politburo. The party leadership has been deliberating for months whether the BJP could be called a fascist party or not.
The CPM's only trump card is the performance of the government it leads in Kerala. The party would like to project it as a model across the country. So the central committee will look into the Left Democratic Front government's performance to decide if it is worthy of the party's endorsement.
The politburo meets on Thursday, followed by three days of the central committee meeting.
