Shornur effect in Ambalapuzha- Sudhagaran blames local leadership!

With Inputs from Daily Pioneer

Allapuzha: The
rebel trouble continued to haunt the CPI(M) in local administration
polls on Thursday with a rebel candidate, who had earlier faced action
for indiscipline was elected in the by-poll held at the coastal ward in
Ambalappuzha panchayat in the district. In the local administration
bodies by-polls held elsewhere in the State, the CPI(M) and the LDF it
led faced humiliating defeats.

In the total 23 local
administration wards where by-polls were held, candidates of
Congress-led UDF emerged winners in 14 wards. The LDF victory was
limited to eight wards while on seat was bagged by the CPI(M) rebel in
Alappuzha district. The UDF wrested six seats from the LDF while the
latter could snatch away only two seats from the Congress-led front.

However,
the biggest humiliation the CPI(M) suffered was in Ambalappuzha, the
constituency of neo-liberalist leader and Devaswom Minister G
Sudhakaran, where rebel candidate V Dhyanasuthan got elected with
stunning majority. Dhyanasuthan had lost the election, when he had
contested as the official CPI(M) candidate, in the same ward to PDP
candidate in the panchayath election. The official candidate of the
CPI(M) in the by-poll was pushed to the third place when Dhyanasuthan
defeated the UDF candidate.

Of the total 1,030 votes in the
Ambalappuzha North ward, Dhyanasuthan bagged 505 votes and was elected
by a margin of more than 200 votes, while the CPI(M) candidate was
pushed to the third place. The PDP, to which Dhyanasuthan had lost the
election earlier, was pushed to the fourth place with just 60 votes.

After the announcement of the results,
Dhayansuthan, like the rebel leader in Shoranur, MR Murali, who had
stunned the CPI(M) in the Shoranur Municipal by-polls, said his victory
was not against the Marxist party but against some leaders of it.

Dhyanasuthan and 13
others had faced party action for taking out a demonstration supporting
VS Achuthanandan during the run-up to the last Assembly electiuon.

Minister
G Sudhakaran, in whose constituency the development took place, said
the victory of the rebel was the result of the failure of the local
leadership. He said the State leadership had specifically instructed
the local leadership not to field candidate who could not keep the
party workers and the people together. The local leadership had failed
in identifying such a candidate and the loss was due to this, he said.

The
defeat of the party candidate was yet another blow to the CPI(M)’s
official leadership after the by-poll defeats in Thalikkulam in
Thrissur and Shoranur in Palakkad. In the by-polls to nine wards in
Shoranur Municipality, the Janakeeya Vikasana Samithi if expelled party
leader Murali, had bagged eight seats with stunning majority, dealing a
big blow to the leadership.

The defeat in Shoranur had prompted
the State leadership of the CPI(M) to look at the rebel issue in a
different light, and as a result of this, party State secretary
Pinarayi Vijayan had advised the Ottapalam area committee, in which
Shornaur came, to give due respect to those who were showing rebellion.

Taking a revised stand on the rebel trouble, Pinarayi said the
party did not want to keep rebels outside always. He said those who had
objections to the party programmes should get the opportunity to
discuss their issues in the party forums.

He advised the
committee that the party should charge ahead in total unity by taking
into confidence the rebels also in the context of the coming Lok Sabha
elections. He opined that the results in the Shoranur by-polls were
reflective of the erosion of mass support there for the party.