CPI(M) says setback in Nilambur bypoll will cause UDF to ‘implode’

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has said a possible setback in the Nilambur Assembly bypoll in Kerala would cause the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) alliance to “implode.”

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan told reporters on Friday that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leadership had expressed annoyance at “the ham-handed manner” in which the Congress handled the campaign, including a marked lack of tact in placating potential allies and turning them into enemies instead.

He said senior Congress leaders’ open criticism of the younger leadership’s juvenile publicity stunts and political gimmickry exposed the deep fissures in the party. 

“Their palpable bitterness foreshadowed the next bout of self-destructive factional fighting in the Congress ahead of the local body polls in 2025 and the Assembly elections in 2026”, Mr. Govindan added. 

He said Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Shashi Tharoor, MP, complained that the State leadership willfully excluded him from the Nilambur by-poll campaign.

(Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph, MLA, stated that Mr. Tharoor topped the list of “star UDF campaigners” in Nilambur). 

Mr. Govindan said Mr. Tharoor had publicly admitted to having profound differences of opinion with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership and has reportedly sought an appointment with Rahul Gandhi to air his grievances. Mr. Govindan said Mr. Tharoor’s mutiny seemed ominous for the Congress.

He said the falsehoods, historical distortions, conspiracy theories, petty political theatre, social media antics and cheap publicity stunts marked the UDF’s “laughable campaign” in Nilambur. 

Mr. Govindan said the CPI(M) State committee was yet to conduct a granular analysis of the voting pattern in Nilambur. “However, the party had waged a successful political campaign in Nilambur. It fielded its candidate and used the hustings as a political platform to successfully convey the LDF’s good governance and secular positioning to the electorate”, he said. 

Slams BJP

The CPI(M) State committee slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for abandoning India’s storied Non-Alignment Movement (NAM)-informed foreign policy and playing second fiddle to “the expansionary war-mongering of the Israel-U.S. axis.”

Mr. Govindan said the Central government was tangibly fearful of condemning Israel’s attack on Iran and its genocidal bombing campaign over Palestine, chiefly Gaza.