The Hindu : Kerala News : `CPI(M) took P.C. Thomas lightly'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 09, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

`CPI(M) took P.C. Thomas lightly'

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 8. The three-member LDF sub-committee that went into the CPI(M) candidate, P.M. Ismail's defeat at Muvattupuzha has said that rather than any individual, it was the collective failure of the LDF, particularly that of the CPI(M) Kottayam and Ernakulam district committees, and the errant behaviour of the Kerala Congress (Joseph) and the Kerala Congress (Secular), that resulted in the LDF debacle in the constituency.

There was heavy erosion of traditional LDF votes and no attempt was made to stem the flow of votes out of the LDF kitty, the committee has found.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity, a senior LDF leader said any attempt to place the entire blame for the Muvattupuzha debacle on any individual would be wrong as the there was all-round failure and a clear tactical failure on the part of the CPI(M). "The constituency was ignored. Not enough money was spent despite party cadres drawing the attention of the leadership to the issue and no effort was made to ensure that the two Kerala Congress groups diverted their votes to the rival candidate, P.C. Thomas of the NDA," the LDF leader said.

'Report well-received'

According to the LDF leader, the three-member panel's report was well-received by the LDF committee that met here on August 6 when it was read out by the committee convener and CPI State assistant secretary, Pannian Ravindran. "Our attempt was to go into the gamut of issues that contributed to the defeat of the CPI(M) candidate and not to fix blame on any individual, not even P.C. George," he said. The failure of the KC (Secular) leader lay, he pointed out, in his having campaigned against the KC(J) candidate in Idukki even while holding the post of LDF Election Committee chairman in Muvattupuzha. This alienated the KC(J), which refused to cooperate with the LDF's election effort in Muvattupuzha and concentrated on the campaign of its nominee in Idukki, Francis George. "Mr. George also gave an interview to a satellite TV channel against the KC(J) which aggravated the situation," he pointed out.

Reference to Isaac

The LDF leader said the only reference to the CPI(M) State secretariat member, T.M. Thomas Isaac's failing was with reference to the party cadres' complaint about short of funds to carry on with the campaign.

The complaint was apparently not taken seriously by him and the CPI(M) leadership as evidenced by the serious funds crunch the campaign experienced in the subsequent days.

The LDF leader said it has been the general practice for the Kerala Congress groups to work sincerely only when their party candidates were in the fray and this was in evidence in Muvattupuzha as well.

The insincere attitude of the Kerala Congress groups had resulted in erosion of Christian votes in favour of Mr. Thomas.

"The CPI(M) did not take Thomas seriously as a candidate and no attempt was made to score political points on his candidature. This was nothing but tactical blunder," he said.

"Our job was not to fix the responsibility for the Muvattupuzha debacle on any individual and we have not done anything of the kind. Our attempt was to see how a host of factors contributed to the LDF nominee's defeat and it would be uncharitable to say that any particular individual, be it George or Thomas Isaac, was responsible for it," the LDF leader added.

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