Kerala CPM admits to organisational lapses for polls debacle

Vijayan was briefing about the outcome of the three-day meeting of the CPI-M state committee which concluded on Thursday. It was reportedly stormy with factions loyal to Vijayan and Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan hurling charges at each other.

Based on the conclusions drawn by the poll review meeting,corrective steps required to strengthen the party and the Government would be taken,he said.

LDF,which had won 18 seats in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls,won only four this time.

On the specific question of the demand for the Chief Minister’s resignation,reportedly raised by several of the state secretariat and state committee members,Vijayan said “we have not thought about that.” LDF had not been able to retain the support of the minorities and the Christians,in particular,moved away from the LDF over apprehensions about some of its policies. CPI(M) – KER 2 The CPI-M leader did not,however,elaborate who were responsible for the breach of organisational principles and disunity in the party.

These were issues to be discussed and corrected within the party and not to be shared with the media,he said adding the party saw it as a “grave weakness” that it could not foresee the anti-LDF trend and take timely steps to counter them.

On the controversial tie-up with the PDP led by Abdul Nasser Madani,Vijayan said though the PDP had never been a partner of LDF,the Congress-led UDF had sought to create a false impression that LDF was in alignment with a party accused of having links with terror outfits.

This propaganda had also done harm to LDF. In fact,the UDF had done this to cover up its truck with the Popular Front which,he alleged,was an outfit with extremist links.

While the Christian community as a whole took an anti-LDF approach,the Catholic church particularly adopted a hostile stand against the Left as it did during the “liberation struggle” against the first communist ministry in the state in 1957-59,he said.

The party and the government would take steps to allay the misunderstanding among the community on issues like the policy in self-financing educational institutions,he said.