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Thiruvananthapuram: The Left takes it as the unkindest cut of all! The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders never anticipated such a targeted personal affront against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan from the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who doubles up as the pivot of I.N.D.I.A bloc. What made the Left, especially the CPI(M), fretting and fuming was a poser by Gandhi scion as to why Vijayan has been spared by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime at the Centre, unlike two other chief ministers from the opposition camp.
Rahul Gandhi went on to say that he himself had been targeted by the BJP regime and its agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED). Gandhi’s acerbic attack on Vijayan came after the Marxist leaders took a few potshots at him suggesting that his seeking re-election in Wayanad in Kerala betrayed lack of confidence in taking on the BJP in the Hindi heartland. Gandhi’s take on Vijayan also added grist to the refrain of local Congress leaders that the Marxist stalwart had been all too meek when it comes to directly taking on the BJP’s top brass.
Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, Vijayan said he and his party would not get scared of threats of arrests or being jailed, unlike the Congress leaders who had made a beeline to the BJP to avoid such a fate. The Marxist stalwart then went on to taunt Gandhi saying that he would better avoid making such silly statements, else people would think that he had not changed much from his initial days in politics.
Back in the fray in Wayanad in Kerala, no one expected Gandhi to be very cordial and nice towards the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), against which the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by his party is locked in battle in all the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state. As ousting the BJP regime is the prime national goal of both the fronts, local issues have largely dominated their electoral planks.
Right from the start, there appeared to be a broad understanding between the rivals that the job of washing the local linen in public would be left to the local leaders, with the national campaigners refraining from harping too much on local themes and making personal attacks. This red line has been breached by Gandhi when he chose to launch a direct attack on the Chief Minister, when hardly a week is left for the state to go to polls.
As expected, the CPI (M) media are awash with shrill attacks on Gandhi. The national leaders of the Left too are left with a feeling that Gandhi’s comment has left a jarring note in the larger anti-BJP narrative assiduously pitched at the national level. CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury termed Gandhi’s take on the Chief Minister as “shocking” and something that went against the very purpose for which the I.N.D.I.A bloc was formed as a broad front to prevent the return of the BJP to power.
From the very outset, Gandhi’s decision to seek re-election from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency has irked the Left, especially the Communist Party of India (CPI). Annie Raja, wife of CPI general secretary D Raja, is the LDF candidate in Wayanad. Right from the start, the Left leaders suggested that Gandhi stay out of Wayanad this time as Kerala remains a barren territory for BJP. If the political purpose of floating INDIA was to be served, Gandhi should fight from a seat in a northern state, taking head on the BJP. The Congress-CPI(M) face-off pleased the BJP in the state, though the party is far from a position to cash in on it electorally in most of the seats.
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