But the CPI(M) in particular and the LDF in general cannot afford to rest on their laurels. There is urgent need to take further steps to make the campaign more effective. For instance, the CPI(M) should give top priority to a joint VS Achuthanandan-Pinarayi Vijayan campaign in select constituencies. Such a campaign will have an electrifying impact not only on the party’s rank and file but also on the people at large. One of the major campaign planks of the UDF is that the CPI(M) leaders continue to work at cross purposes and that there is no camaraderie among its top leaders. A joint VS-Vijayan campaign will be the best way to silence such propaganda that the party secretary and the CM are pulling in opposite directions.

Vijayan is right when he says that the election campaign is not the responsibility of any single leader. Others have an equal role in the matter, he has said. A beginning should be made by Vijayan taking the initiative to campaign for VS in his constituency, Malampuzha. VS should return the compliments by campaigning for some of his critics within the party. He has already made a good beginning by inaugurating the election campaign of CPI(M) Central Committee member EP Jayarajan, a known VS critic till the other day. The icing on the cake should be a joint campaign by Pinarayi and Achuthanandan as the campaign slips into top gear in the coming days. If necessary, the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) should take the initiative to talk both the leaders into launching a joint campaign. In politics, visibility is as important as timing and perception.

No less important is the need for a joint campaign by all the constituents of the LDF. The absence of such a campaign during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections had had a damaging impact on the LDF’s prospects. That mistake should be rectified this time. The earlier the LDF does it, the better it will be for the front as time is running out. The LDF coordination committee will do well to finalise the modalities of a joint campaign by discussing it with the CPI, RSP and other constituents of the LDF.

The CPI(M) also needs to address forthwith the P. Sasi issue. True the former secretary of the Kannur district unit of the party has been demoted to the branch committee as recommended by a two member party committee which enquired into the complaints and found substance in the allegations. But a section within the CPI(M), including Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, feels the ‘crime’ committed by P Sasi – moral turpitude – warrants nothing short of expulsion which the party’s constitution provides for crimes of such magnitude.

The Kerala CPI(M) leadership is hesitating to take drastic action against Sasi because the party fears that such drastic disciplinary action will have an adverse effect on the party’s electoral prospects. Such fears are misplaced. On the contrary, immediate expulsion of Sasi will greatly enhance the CPI(M)’s credibility. Such a step will also strengthen the LDF’s campaign against Indian Union Muslim League general secretary P K Kunhalikkutty who has been rattled by fresh revelations in the infamous ice cream parlour sex scandal case by his known relative. The CPI(M)’s campaign against Kunhalikkutty will acquire added resonance and strength once the party expels Sasi from the party.

Last but not the least, the CPI(M) should publicly support the VS action in demanding a CBI investigation into the lottery scam, considered as a political masterstroke on the part of the Kerala Chief Minister. The CPI has done the right thing by backing the VS decision as a bold step. The CBI demand move has deprived the Congress of a powerful weapon to beat the CPI(M) with. It will not be easy for the Kerala CPI(M) to do that as it feels that VS took the decision without consulting the party – a lapse for which the PB almost censured VS but stayed its hand as the matter got leaked to the media. But the party needs to overcome its reservations in the matter and extend full support to the VS move for a CBI probe into the lottery scam. The electoral benefits accruing from such a bold move will far outweigh the apprehended losses. Will the CPI(M) muster the courage to do this? The time to act is now. Action after the elections may prove ineffective. (IPA Service)