Kochi: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's unwillingness to address the allegations raised against his daughter in front of the media, unlike Kodiyeri Balakrishnan who did so when charges were leveled against his son, has put the party on the defensive, observed the CPM Ernakulam District Committee.

In the meeting held to discuss the report of the party state committee regarding the election failure, the Chief Minister's action was criticised as it “harmed” the party. It was also evaluated that the main reason for the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections was the strong anti-government wave.

Kodiyeri had openly told the media that his son is solely responsible for the allegations leveled against him, and that the party has nothing to do with it. However, the Chief Minister was not ready to make any kind of explanation anywhere on the Exalogic controversy. This has messed up the party. The leaders had to come up with a justification instead.

The CPM Ernakulam District Committee observed that LDF convener E.P. Jayarajan's media appearance on election day, where he mentioned meeting BJP Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar, was a big setback. His remark that the BJP had fielded good candidates like Rajiv Chandrasekhar contributed to the party's rout. The committee also discussed that Jayarajan's association with Dallal Nandakumar brought disrepute to the entire party.

Many of A K Balan's comments through the media have also backfired. The ragging death of Siddharthan also caused damage to the party. The party is forced to answer for many things done by the SFI and the DYFI, it observed.

If the first Pinarayi Cabinet was popular, the second Cabinet was alienated from the people. The Cabinet is not functioning effectively as it excluded the experienced. Suspension of the welfare pensions and collapse of the Welfare Boards have created deep frustration among the labourers. The shortage of items at the Supplyco at a time when the prices are rising has invited public wrath. Even when problems were pointed out, no corrections were made.

The selection of candidates was also not done properly. There was no need to field any minister or MLA. Thomas Isaac was not a good candidate in Pathanamthitta, the committee held.

In Ernakulam, there has been a big failure in terms of candidate selection. The selection of the candidate based on community equations only caused disdain among the majority community. Election works were done with the preconceived notion of defeat. There was also a big setback in the field of election campaigns. All the criticisms against the Central Government were confined to a few specific issues. Same style of speeches and campaigns were held across Kerala. Hence, campaigns without regard to constituencies and regional characteristics did not reach the people.

When the campaign was carried out by severely criticising the Central Government over issues including CAA, the things that directly affected the people, including the abolition of gas subsidy and the increase in unemployment, were not properly raised.

An in-depth discussion took place on the report presented by State Secretariat Member K K Jayachandran. Around 30 people participated in the discussions to which Minister P Rajeev responded.