Kerala: Near sweep for Congress; CPM left with one

With the Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s entry into Wayanad, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which rode on the emotional Sabarimala wave and minority consolidation, achieved a near-sweep in Kerala winning 19 out of 20 Lok Sabha seats.

For the beleaguered Congress, there is some comfort down south. Wayanad has saved the party president from major blushes. After losing his traditional seat Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to Bharatiya Janata Party’s Smriti Irani, the little-known constituency in north Kerala has bailed him out in style.

In Kerala, Gandhi’s gambit has paid off and the ruling Left Front’s fears proved to be right. He has almost decimated the Left in its last stronghold. The ruling CPI(M) had opposed his sudden candidature in Wayanad saying his entry will divide secular votes. The party tried its best to avert his entry but Gandhi later said he will not utter a word against his “Left friends” in Wayanad and he kept his words. But that was not enough to protect the Left’s prospects, the thumping win shows.

In Wayanad, Gandhi won the seat with a record margin of over four lakh votes. He defeated his immediate rival P P Suneer of the Communist Party of India over 4,30,000 votes. Meanwhile, in state capital Thiruvananthpuram, Shashi Tharoor scored a hat-trick retaining the seat with a margin of 98,000 votes.

Singing sensation Remya Haridas, former state Congress chief K Muralidharan, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader and sitting MP N K Premachandran and Kannur strongman K Sudhakaraan are some of the important winning candidates. The lone loser in UDF is Shanimol Usman of the Congress in Alappuzha. While the CPI(M) managed one seat, A M Arif in Alappuzha, all four candidates of CPI bit dust. In the 2014 polls, the UDF had won 12 and LDF eight seats.

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The emotional Sabarimala issue, minority consolidation and Gandhi’s entry helped the UDF to consolidate its position in the state. His candidature helped it to sweep the state and electrify the party machinery which is otherwise mired in factional feud. The UDF vote share went up to 47% while LDF’s share plummeted to 32%. The BJP-led NDA’s vote share has gone up to 18%. The saffron party which tried its best to open an account found that bipolar Kerala an impenetrable fort.

In Pathanamthitta, where the famed Sabarimala temple is situated, sitting MP Anto Antony emerged victorious and BJP candidate K Surendran, a favourte contender, was pushed to the third position. It seems the BJP, which led the agitation over Sabarimala, failed to cash in on the issue. The state had witnessed violent protests after September 28 verdict of the Supreme Court which allowed women of all ages to worship at the hill temple.

The hurry in which the government tried to implements the verdict angered a large section of Hindu community, say political observers but the Left parties thought its renaissance tag will help it tide over the anger of the majority community. The rout clearly showed CPI(M)’s adamant position on Sabarimala has misfired. “It is an antidote to the adamant posture of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan,” said former Left ideologue and political observer C P John. The humiliating defeat won’t pose an immediate threat to the Left Front government but political observers claim, it will dent image of the CM and party general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

The opposition Congress has sought his resignation. “Humiliated, Pinarayi Vijayan has no right to continue in power. The verdict is an answer to this arrogance and misrule,” said opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. The chief minister admitted that it was an unexpected rout. “We will examine reasons for our defeat. It seems there was a strong sentiment against the Modi government in the state and voters used this opportunity to back available alternative, Congress-led front,” he said.

Initially Congress’ leadership was reluctant to support the temple issue but forced to fall in line after state leaders convinced them that party workers will move to the BJP in a big way if it remained silent. Congress working president K Sudhakaran warned that the party’s continued silence on Sabarimala would be a blank cheque to the saffron party. Desperate to break the bipolar polity of the state, the BJP thought the emotional issue was a golden opportunity. Earlier it tried its best to woo the minority Christian community and later the backward Ezhavas but both failed to yield them desired results.