Battleground Kerala: In Kerala, winnability alone counts

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: K R Gowri, 96, walked into AKG Centre -CPM's state headquarters -last month forgetting the humiliation she suffered at the party's hands after her expulsion in 1994 with a request for five seats for her party Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithy .
CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan offered to consider her demand.Gowri hoped to get three seats and shortlisted candidates.

But on Monday , when the LDF finalised seat sharing, her party got nothing. On Thursday , after a meeting of her party functionaries, she welcomed NDA 's support.

The BJP , through its new ally BDJS, is in talks with Gowri who was a minister in the 1957 Communist government in Kerala and devoted the prime of her political life to the party.

“There was neither a bishop nor a mullah behind Gowri.That is why she had to face this humiliation“, says former CPM neta Appukkuttan Vallikunnu.He reads Gowri's rejection along with the warm welcome extended to the Kerala Congress (M) splinter which crossed over to the LDF days before the elections were notified. The group led by former MP Francis George was allocated four seats.Reason: CPM expects to win the Catholic Church's endorsement through the new party , Kerala Congress (Democratic).

The CPM seems caught in a quagmire as its desperation to win shows through. With winnability now the sole criterion for picking candidates, several nominees who aren't acceptable to the party cadre have found place in the candidate list. Some half a dozen independents running multi-crore business empires are on the list with people like Veena George, a TV journalist, who got seat a under the Orthodox Church's quota.

But there's a contrast in this theory too. While engaging independents to wrest seats in areas where the party machinery is weak, the CPM has compromised on its winnability in stronger seats choosing mediocre nominees. “In the south, several candidates were denied tickets just because they don't belong to a particular group. It may hit party prospects,“ says political observer Jacob George.In Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam, the CPM has picked candidates neglecting leaders owing allegiance to party veteran V S Achuthanandan.

Revolutionary Marxist Party leader K S Hariharan feels ideological compromises had changed the CPM's very nature.While the party boldly kept all “communal forces“ at bay in 1987, now CPM officials are going to the bishop's doorsteps.“Don't forget the recent celebration of religious festivals under the aegis of the party,“ he says.

Appukuttan Vallikunnu says the “invasion of crony capitalism“ is visible in candidate selection.

“That's how nomi nees of the Church and businessmen find place in such large numbers. This doesn't look like a communist party list. The lists of Congress, CPM and BJP look more or less the same,“ he says.

If that's true, it hardly matters which party forms governments. They all look the same.