Thiruvananthapuram: The political standoff within the LDF over the post of deputy leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly has intensified, with the CPI mounting a fresh attack on CPM.Senior CPI functionary Rajaji Mathew Thomas, in an article published in the party mouthpiece Janayugom, said coalition politics required collective leadership and shared responsibility rather than an insistence on established conventions. His article came in response to a piece written by CPM state secretariat member C N Mohanan in Deshabhimani.Thomas pointed out that it was CPM that had suggested that the issue of the deputy leader of the opposition need not be raised at the LDF meeting. However, he said CPI could not remain silent when the issue was being debated publicly, as the party had a responsibility to protect its self-respect.He also warned that unnecessarily dragging past political episodes, including the Emergency, into the present controversy would only deepen differences within the alliance.Thomas criticised the argument that since the leader of the opposition and deputy leader had remained with the CPM from the formation of the LDF, the same convention should continue.He said insisting on the continuation of the old arrangement reflected an unwillingness to recognize the political changes that had taken place in Kerala and across the country. He said the CPM central committee’s review report on the assembly election had itself acknowledged these changes. The report noted that, for the first time since 1977, CPM was no longer part of a govt in any state in the country.Thomas said CPM’s current political predicament should not be viewed merely as an issue concerning that party, but as a situation that required the entire Left movement to introspect. He pointed to the growing influence and political expansion of the BJP and Sangh Parivar forces across Indian politics, including in Kerala.The CPI, he said, firmly believed that confronting this challenge required the LDF to move beyond traditional conventions and adopt a broader, collective political approach backed by a leadership structure suited to the changing political circumstances.The latest exchange has brought to the fore growing differences between the two major LDF constituents over the allocation of key positions in the newly elected assembly.
