Thiruvananthapuram: Sabarimala continues to cause disquiet for Kerala political parties although the dust has settled down on the elections. Even as the CPI-M is struggling to find a plausible explanation for its poll debacle other than Sabarimala, the BJP, the party that spearheaded the agitation against the state government, is facing internal strife over the responsibility for missing a great opportunity.
The disappointment of the BJP’s central leadership is so pronounced that the neck of state party president P S Sreedharan Pillai seems to be on the block, although he has discounted such possibility. The central leadership was expecting up to win up to three states from the state.
The Muralidharan faction within the party has been quick to grab the opportunity to get even with the state party chief. But the central leadership is apparently averse to single out any one faction for the fiasco and would rather hold the state unit collectively responsible for the failure.
Pillai had tried until the last minute to block the candidature of K Surendran in Pathanamthitta that includes the Sabarimala temple area, where the hero of the party’s agitation was considered a hot favourite to win the election. There have been suggestions that the state party president may have contributed less than his 100 percent towards a BJP victory in the constituency.
The Left Front is still unable to reconcile to the charge that the Kerala vote was more against CM Pinarayi Vijayan than Modi. The CPI-M has initially been explaining that the strong anti-Modi sentiment in the state had promoted people to vote for the UDF with a vengeance.
The ruling front is hard-pressed for arguments to prove that this was not the case and wants people to believe that its debacle is due to a consolidation of minority votes in favour of the UDF.
Interestingly, the Congress party is more in favour of treating the Kerala vote more as an anti-Pinarayi expression of popular discontent than a positive vote for itself. Obviously, this is to buttress the claim that the Pinarayi government has lost the moral ground to continue in office and, therefore, it should quit.
According to a detailed analysis of the voting results, the Left Front lost majority in 128 assembly segments and could claim victory only in 16. Its candidates suffered defeat in 71 out of the 91 Assembly segments that it had won during the 2016 assembly election.
Pinarayi has rejected the demand saying it is a normal practice for the Opposition to raise such issues after every election and is going about his work as if nothing has happened. When accosted by newsmen who asked whether he would change his style in view of the poll setback, he said there was no question of that happening.
