From weak alliance,CPM hopes to emerge stronger

This leaves minor partners such as the RSP,which too had suffered a split a decade ago,the Kerala Congress (Joseph) and the Congress (S),apart from the CPI. Of these allies,only the CPI crosses the single digit mark in terms of seats in the 140-strong Assembly while the others have been languishing at the periphery of the state politics.

However,this weakening of the position of its allies does not seem to be bothering the CPM much and it has not admitted any new party in the last decade. The Left-backed Indian National League,a splinter group of the Muslim League,has been sulking over CPM’s reluctance to accord it the status of an ally and is now looking into the option of returning to the mother party.

The emerging political scenario could prove a blessing for the CPM if it manages to wrest more seats from its junior partners and edge closer to its dream of single-rule. Moreover,the party has steadily been increasing the space it occupes in electoral politics in successive Assembly elections. The party,which had contested 65 seats in Assembly elections from 1991 to 2001,changed tack in the 2006 election and was very firm in wresting a major chunk of seats from its junior partners. The NCP,which had been allotted 11 seats in the 2001 elections,had to be content with two seats in 2006. The Kerala Congress (J) which got 10 seats from the LDF kitty was allotted only six and the JD(S) share in the seats came down from 12 in 2001 to eight in 2006. This helped the CPM to contest 85 seats in 2006,apart from fielding three Independents. However,it was careful to not tread on the toes of the CPI which had been contesting 22 to 24 seats in the elections from 1991 to 2006.

The organisational clout of the party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan coupled with the present lean structure of the LDF would enable the CPM to go for another round of seat hunting in the fields of the partners. The exit of the Veerendrakumar faction would pave the way for majority of the JD (S) seats falling in the the CPM kitty. Though K Muraleedharan,the NCP’s erstwhile state chief,was sacked by the party last month for his attempts to return to the Congress,the party is unsure it will be readmitted into the LDF fold.

The decisive verdict against the LDF in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls seems to have had little sobering effect on the CPM’s policy of browbeating its junior allies and pushing ahead with its own agenda.The CPM had admitted the Gowda faction as an ally,overruling the objections of the CPI and the RSP. Currently,the CPM) looks set to emerge stronger for the Assembly elections slated for 2011.