CPI(M) Politburo member MA Baby’s month-old ‘silent’ war against the leadership over its refusal to permit him to resign as a member of the Kerala Assembly following his defeat in the Kollam seat in the 16th lok Sabha election ended on Sunday after the party made a final rejection of his wish.
General secretary Prakash Karat on Sunday reported to the two-day meeting of the Kerala State committee in Thiruvananthapuram that there was no need for Baby to resign as a member of the Kerala Assembly over his defeat in the Parliament election. He told the committee that Baby had agreed with the party decision.
Baby had expressed his wish to resign as MlA at a post-poll meeting of the PB in Delhi saying that it was morally improper for him to continue in the post after he had failed to muster majority even in the Kundara Assembly segment of the Kollam seat. Baby, a former State Minister, represents Kundara in the Kerala House.
The central leadership had opposed Baby’s plan just when he had made it known. After that, the Kerala State secretariat of the party had discussed the matter and decided to disallow his resignation. However, the leadership was forced to take up the matter once again as Baby held fast to his plan and certain leaders came out in support of him.
Karat’s statement at the State committee meeting came on Sunday after a lengthy discussion of the issue in the State secretariat which met on Friday and Saturday. According to sources, all members of the State secretariat, except nonagenarian central committee member VS Achuthanandan, had opposed Baby’s desire to relinquish the MlA post.
The main reason put forward by the leadership for rejecting Baby’s request was that Marxists did not usually see poll defeats as personal failures demanding moral examination. According to the party, Baby was in no way personally responsible for his defeat in Kollam lok Sabha seat or in the Kundara Assembly segment and therefore there was no need for his resignation, it concluded.
Also, the party could not allow Baby to relinquish his MlA post in the particular context of the rise in the majority of the Congress-led ruling UDF to 75 in the 140-member Assembly. In the 2011 Assembly election, the CPI(M)-led lDF had won 68 seats but this number came down to 65 following the departure of one Marxist member and the recent switching of sides by the RSP.
The issue of Baby’s wish to resign as MlA had become a subject of hot discussion in Kerala’s political circles following reports that a new divisionist war was brewing within the Kerala CPI(M) under the leadership of a section of leaders including him, which might eventually get the support of Achuthanandan, who had led a decade-long war against the official leadership.
Baby had reportedly got a feeling that a section in the party was partially responsible for his defeat in the Kollam lok Sabha seat and the Kundara Assembly segment especially as he had failed to get a lead over his rival RSP’s NK Premachandran, the candidate of the UDF, even in party-controlled areas of Kundara.
At the State committee meeting being held for analysing the lok Sabha election results, Karat also said that the relatively poor performance of the left in Kerala was unexpected. He said the party had viewed Kerala as a state where the left could make good poll progress, adding that the reasons for the setback should be examined. The lDF had won eight seats out of the total 20 in Kerala in the 2014 election whereas it had won only four in the 2009 polls.