Bhargavan, Chennithala hold discussion

THIRUVANAMTHAPURAM: Veliyam Bhargavan, the Kerala CPI Secretary, met KPCC President Ramesh Chennithala  on Friday for a brief discussion. The meeting was held at Alappuzha and lasted for nearly 20 minutes.

The meeting between the two leaders assumes significance in the backdrop of the humiliation and insult meted out on CPI by Pinarayi Vijayan, the CPM secretary. Pinarayi who is busy holding the Kerala March as a prelude to the assembly election scheduled for early 2006, spares no opportunity to ridicule Bhargavan and his party. The CPI, a party of leaders but no followers, has been groaning for quite some time on the new found bonhomie between K Karunakaran and the CPM.

Though both Chennithala and Bhargavan termed the meeting as just courtesy call, political observers in the state consider it a precursor to the realignment of groups in the state. Ramesh Chennithala, who met the press after his encounter with Bhargavan, was very soft on the CPI. The KPCC President termed CPI as a responsible party while he was very critical of the CPM.

The CPI leadership has been startled by the revelation by noted columnist Shri TVR Shenoy that the party could manage just 1.79 per cent of the total votes cast in the 2001 assembly election while BJP which fought the election without any alliance, won 5.19 per cent of the total votes. “The CPI was not alone, it was fighting as part of the Left Front coalition led by the CPM. Even worse, not only was it left in the dust by the CPM, even the Forward Block and the Revolutionary Socialist Party garnered a larger share of votes (5.65% and 3.43% respectively). In other words, had the CPI gone it alone as the BJP did it would certainly have fared even worse than the actual situation,” writes Shri Shenoy.

Many CPM leaders are of the view that small parties like CPI, RSP and Janata Dal are a burden for them. “Why should we carry this letter-head organizations? They do not have money or men to face the elections. It is our people who toil hard to make them victorious in the election,” asked a senior CPM functionary who does not want to be named.

VB Cherian, the expelled CPM leader has also cast his net to unite the disgruntled elements from the LDF. The coming days will see a cascading effect on the statements being made by Pinarayi Vijayan during the Kerala March.