The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] in Kerala has closed ranks against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) alleged attempt to poach party cadres facing disciplinary action even as it sought to spotlight the Congress party as “the Sangh Parivar’s favourite hunting ground.”
For one, CPI(M) Kerala State secretary M.V. Govindan on March 8 (Friday) scotched rumours that the party’s former legislator from Devikulam in Idukki, S. Rajendran, was on the cusp of defecting to the BJP.
Mr. Govindan said the party’s policy was to hold “comrades with experience and loyalty” close to the organisation. “I spoke to Mr. Rajendran. He has promised to cooperate with the party. Disciplinary action is not sentencing. It’s a corrective process repeatedly adopted by the CPI(M) as part of the party’s inherent course correction and rectification process. The CPI(M) will bring Mr. Rajendran into the party fold,” he said.
It seemed that the CPI(M) was focussed on preventing the BJP from collecting a political trophy from the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The CPI(M) also sought to burnish its secular image by harping on Padmaja Venugopal’s recent defection from the Congress to the BJP and campaigning that more Congress leaders would follow in her footsteps.
Hence, the CPI(M) reportedly worried that a high-profile defection from its ranks might blunt the party’s stridently secular messaging.
The CPI(M) had suspended Mr. Rajendran for alleged anti-party activities during the 2021 Legislative Assembly elections in Idukki. Mr. Rajendran had claimed innocence and repeatedly petitioned the CPI(M) for his reinstatement.
Exploiting disgruntlement
The BJP had reportedly sought to exploit Mr. Rajendran’s perceived disgruntlement with the CPI(M) when BJP Kerala State secretary K. Surendran’s ‘Kerala Padayatra’ toured Idukki district in February.
Mr. Rajendran had sought to put the CPI(M) leadership on tenterhooks by telling mediapersons in Idukki that BJP leader P.K. Krishnadas had sought to enlist him in the latter’s fold. Mr. Rajendran had said that he had briefed Mr. Govindan about the feelers.
The CPI(M) seemed well aware of the BJP’s gambit. LDF convener E.P. Jayarajan told reporters on March 7 (Thursday) that the BJP would find no recruits from the CPI(M) despite the Sangh Parivar “actively eyeing” some workers facing disciplinary action.
