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All's well that ends well

Following the decision of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to let the Leader of the Opposition in Kerala, V.S. Achuthanandan, contest the Assembly election, the Left Democratic Front will have an undisputed, if not formally announced, Chief Ministerial candidate in the poll campaign. Keeping in mind the popular upsurge in favour of the 83-year-old Marxist leader, the Polit Bureau reversed the earlier decision not to include him in the candidates' list, thus bringing to an end inner-party strife on the leadership question. With this contentious issue out of the way, the LDF can now put its best foot forward and wage an offensive campaign against the Congress-led United Democratic Front. Mr. Achuthanandan was the party's Chief Ministerial candidate in 1996, when he lost in Mararikulam constituency, and again in 2001, when the LDF lost the election. To deny him a seat this time would have amounted to lending credence to rumours that his defeat in Mararikulam was the result of an inner-party conspiracy. A leader of peasants and backward classes with a clean image, Mr. Achuthanandan is seen as a member of the old guard of the CPI (M). Often, in his public stance on developmental issues, he has come through as an old-fashioned organisation man out of touch with the demands of a modernising economy. This cost him support among his party colleagues who feared he might turn out to be a liability in governance. Factional differences at the top, to which Mr. Achuthanandan contributed fiercely, and a reputation for ruthlessness aggravated matters.

But the old warrior has shown himself to be a stickler for party discipline for all the raucous street protests of his supporters and the groundswell of popular sympathy. Not surprisingly, the Polit Bureau seemed happy enough to overrule the original decision that was shaped by a decisive majority in the party's State Secretariat and among the Kerala contingent in its Central Committee. The CPI (M) is known to close ranks once a final decision on any issue is taken, no matter how fierce the debate that preceded it. The decision to field Mr. Achuthanandan is certain to galvanise both its ranks and its popular support base across the State. The Congress managed to strike a desperate alliance with its breakaway group, the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran), but this is unlikely to shorten the huge lead the LDF has built over the UDF in the past few years and demonstrated so powerfully in May 2004. As a clumsy compromise, the Congress gave in to the DIC (K) demand that it be permitted to contest on its own symbol. In return the Congress wanted an assurance that the DIC (K) would merge with it after the election. Such non-binding assurances are next to meaningless. Besides a galvanised opposition, the UDF will have to live with unreliable allies in the coming election.

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