Since the day he was elected as the Secretary of the Kerala CPI (M) in 1998, a post which had occupied till 2015 and he was elevated to the post of the Chief Minister in 2016, Pinarayi Vijayan was the monarch of everything he surveyed. The whole Kerala and the CPI (M)'s central leadership danced to his tunes till the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha election were announced. The CPI (M) had to contend with just one out of the 15 seats it contested.
Though the results of the 2019 election too were on the same lines, there was nobody to question the supremacy of Vijayan either in the party or in the Government. Things have changed a lot over the last one month as even former ministers like Thomas Issac (who had grand plans for the economy of the country as he had hoped to be appointed as the Union Finance Minister in the eventuality of the INDI alliance winning the election) and MA Baby questioning the leadership qualities of Vijayan, something which was considered as unthinkable even a month back.
While Issac chose to attack Vijayan through innuendoes, Baby's article appeared in the latest edition of "Pachakkuthira" a magazine owing allegiance to the Church. Baby said that if the leadership fails to listen to the party cadre and rectify itself, there is no future for the Left parties in the country. He also pointed out that the Left which controlled the Central Government once is at its lowest ebb now.
According to Issac, it was the arrogance and contempt of the people in power which cost the CPI (M) the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Both Issac and Baby, known as the glamour stars of the CPI (M) are known critics of Vijayan and his son -in-law Mohammed Riyaz, the minister for PWD and Tourism. Riyaz, the second husband of Vijayan's daughter Veena is the de facto number two in the council of ministers.