CPI(M) in correction phase in Kerala, CM Pinarayi Vijayan continues with his widely criticised style

Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the CPI(M) national leadership has chipped in for a correction mission in Kerala following the party's setback in the Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seems to be in no mood to change his widely criticised approaches.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and former general secretary Prakash Karat are in Kerala addressing party regional meetings and stressing the need for corrective measures to regain the communist party's mass base.

While the opposition Congress on Thursday raised in the assembly the alleged violence by the ruling party's students' outfit Student's Federation of India (SFI) at campuses as well as the alleged attack on a college principal, Vijayan strongly defended the SFI workers. He also reiterated his earlier version that the brutal attack on Congress workers by CPI(M) workers and his security guards for waving black flags at his vehicle were indeed 'rescue acts' to avoid his vehicle hitting the Congress workers.

The house witnessed heated exchange of words between the chief minister and opposition leader V D Satheesan of Congress as well as members of ruling and opposition fronts over it and ended up in an early adjournment.

There has been widespread criticism even from within the party that Vijayan's approaches are also reasons for the party's poor performance in the election. Party senior leaders like former finance minister Thomas Isaac, who also tasted defeat in the election, openly raised concerns over the party losing its mass support. Even a need for leadership change is also overtly and covertly coming up.

It was in this context that the party national leaders too pitched in with the course correction, especially since the 2026 Assembly elections is crucial for the party as Kerala is the lone state where the party is in power now.

Addressing the party regional meeting at Kozhikode in north Kerala on Wednesday, Yechury stressed the need for more focus on basic issues affecting the people rather than development. He also told reporters that the party was taking corrective measures by identifying the reasons for defeat.

Karat, who addressed the party's regional reporting meeting the other day, even cautioned that if the party workers did not learn lessons from Bengal and Tripura, the party would face the same fate in Kerala too.

Apart from the party's defeat, the CPI(M) is now more worried about the increase in vote share of BJP even in its strongholds in Kannur, including Pinarayi Vijayan's constituency.