Sat like wet chicken: Ex-CPM leader slams Pinarayi Vijayan's LoP performance

Former CPI(M) leader G Sudhakaran, elected to the Kerala Assembly as a UDF-backed Independent from Ambalapuzha, on Sunday criticised Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, alleging the Left had failed to effectively counter the government in the House.

Sudhakaran was speaking at a function held to inaugurate his MLA office.

A former minister and multiple-time MLA as a CPI(M) leader, Sudhakaran left the party after alleging that he was sidelined by the district leadership.

He later contested the Assembly election as an independent candidate with UDF support and won from Ambalapuzha.

Referring to a recent speech by Chief Minister V D Satheesan on the state's financial situation, Sudhakaran said the Opposition had failed to defend its position in the Assembly.

"There was a speech by Satheesan in the Assembly in which he sharply criticised the financial position inherited from the previous LDF government. But not a single word was spoken by the Opposition to defend its position," he said.

According to Sudhakaran, the Left has a strong political and ideological position, but there are currently no leaders in the Opposition capable of articulating and defending it.

"Someone in the Opposition should have stood up and responded, but there was no one to do that," he said.

Using a sharp metaphor to describe Vijayan's silence, Sudhakaran said the Opposition leader remained passive throughout the debate.

"Comrade Pinarayi was sitting there like a wet chicken. He sat silently without responding. K N Balagopal also does not know how to speak. It was a pathetic sight," he claimed.

Sudhakaran said he felt saddened by the condition of the Opposition benches, recalling that he had spent nearly two decades sitting there as a member of the Left Front.

"I sat with them for 20 years. Watching that situation was painful," he said.

He added that former finance minister T M Thomas Isaac would have responded effectively had he been a member of the Assembly.

Both Sudhakaran and Isaac served as ministers in the 2016–2021 LDF government.

They were denied Assembly tickets in 2021 as part of the CPI(M)'s policy of replacing senior legislators who had contested multiple elections.

AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal attended the inauguration of Sudhakaran's MLA office.

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