Eyeing hat-trick, CPI(M) adopts new political and development approach at Kerala state conference

Thiruvananthapuram: With a fresh approach for Kerala's development and to fight against the BJP, the opening day of CPI(M)'s Kerala state conference has laid out the key strategies for the 2026 assembly elections in Kerala, in which the Left party is eyeing a hat-trick.

While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan presented the vision document for the 'New Kerala' with emphasis on overall development at the three-day state conference that began in Kollam on Thursday, party former general secretary and interim coordinator Prakash Karat emphasised the CPI(M)'s political approach towards BJP - that the Left party is not of the view that the BJP government at the Centre is fascist.

The renewed political approach towards the BJP, which political analysts term as a soft Hindutva approach, assumed much significance as there was considerable drain in the Hindu-Ezhava OBC vote banks of the CPI(M) to the BJP even in its stronghold Kannur in the recent elections.

Karat rejected Congress's criticism that the CPI(M) that earlier termed the BJP government 'fascist' has now softened the stance to 'displaying neo-fascistic tendencies'. He said that the 2018 CPI(M) party congress in Hyderabad had also termed that the Narendra Modi government was displaying the fascistic trends.

According to senior political observer J Prabhash, for the CPI(M), the 2026 Kerala assembly election is very crucial as Kerala is the lone state where the party is in power. Hence the fresh approaches towards BJP could be seen as an attempt to get the saffron party's support, especially since there were considerable flow of Hindu-Ezhava votes from the party to the BJP in the last Lok Sabha polls.

"CPI(M)'s approach towards Congress at the national level is also changing. The CPI(M) and BJP could consider Congress as the common enemy in the 2026 Kerala assembly polls. For the BJP also it might be easier to take on CPI(M) in Kerala once the Congress is made weak here," he said.

Prabhash also said that a slew of corruption allegations against the Pinarayi Vijayan government could also be one reason for softening its approach towards BJP as probes by central agencies need to be resisted.

It is learnt that the vision document presented by Vijayan emphasises on the renewed approaches of the CPI(M) towards various key sectors, such as allowing private universities and attracting huge investments. Enhancing the social infrastructure with the CPI(M)'s pet projects like the semi-high speed rail connectivity could be integral parts of the 'Nava Keralam' approach document.