It is not often that one sees a 92-year-old politician traversing scores of kiolmetres in scorching summer heat to deliver spirit-raising speeches at a minimum of five rallies a day in a tough election campaign, when the temperature stands at above 41 degrees Celsius.
But that is exactly what nonagenarian Marxist VS Achuthanandan, Opposition leader of Kerala’s outgoing Assembly, has been doing since April 21 to ensure the victory of the CPI(M)-led lDF and the fall of the - as he still calls - the most corrupt Government the State has ever seen — that of the Congress-led UDF — in the just-concluded State Assembly polls.
And he, along with the lakhs who followed him through his campaign trail, did achieve that goal on Thursday when the left decimated the UDF 91-47 in the election to the 140-member Kerala Assembly. “Do you now agree that what you have been seeing so far was an lDF waveIJ” he asked newsmen as news of the UDF defeat trickled in.
If Achuthanandan was eager to term the UDF’s downfall positively as the result of an lDF wave, his enemies in the CPI(M) were not seeing it that way. His bête noire Pinarayi Vijayan, Politbureau member, and State party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan were quick to describe it as the result of an anti-incumbency wave.
“This is not the first time VS has worked tirelessly in elections, knowing fully well that the top leaders of his party were not with him in any of his endeavours. In 2006 and 2011, they tried their level best to deny him ticket. Still, he took the left to a landslide victory in 2006 and to the verge of victory in 2011,” said a former State committee member of the CPI(M) from Kochi.
Even when unity in the party was of utmost importance in the context of the election, Pinarayi had no qualms in telling the Press on April 20 that a party resolution terming Achuthanandan as a man with anti-Marxist mentality remained relevant and valid. This shocked many in the top leadership and almost all the grassroots comrades.
“Though many expected a furious reaction from Achuthanandan to this, what he did the very next day was to participate in an election rally in Dharmadom where Pinarayi was the lDF candidate. There he repeatedly appealed to the people to ensure a huge victory for his enemy, proving that the party and left were his prime concerns,” added the leader from Kochi.
Along with leading the left candidates, including Pinarayi, into victory, Achuthanandan had to ensure his own victory in Malampuzha, where he was contesting for the fourth time. He did win there with a huge margin of over 27,000 votes.
Discussions have already started in the party circles and the media about the suitability of Achuthanandan, who can climb steps “only with the help of three aides”, for the post of Chief Minister in a context where Pinarayi, much younger at 72 and looking much stronger, is already projected by his loyalists as the next Kerala CM.
Though the central leadership of the CPI(M) is hopeful of settling the issue this week by Friday itself, observers expect problems to come up. In 2006, the official leadership headed by Pinarayi had tried to deny him the top Government post but they had failed miserably. “I think that the same history is going to be repeated,” said senior journalist Satheesan Warrier.