Scarecely any high moral ground remains for the Left to attempt a traditional credibility restoration exercise. The CPM getting the state advocate general it appointed to recommend to its own government to deny the CBI permission to prosecute its own state secretary in a Rs 89 crore power scam — while its own chief minister pushed for it behind the curtain — was only the latest in a series of messy corruption charges it had landed itself in. That the state party apparatus in Vijayan’s complete control had even sought Achuthanandan’s resignation for refusing to bail him out, hardly helped shore up its crumbling image.

What compounds the Left predicament is the clearly open divisions now among its partners, with no patch-up in sight, after the seat sharing row this time. The CPI nearly walked out over the bigger partner taking away its Ponnani seat, the Janata Dal (U) withdrew its minister after the CPM relieved its top state honcho of the Kozhikode seat, its only one;  and the RSP’s rancour translated into the Left losing the Kollam seat after the CPM  muscled its way into taking it away from it

With apologies to Marx, the state may not yet be withering away — but the Left in Kerala may. 

rajeev.pi@expressindia.com