With just two weeks left for the Assembly polls, the Left Democratic Front camp is still unable to project anyone unambiguously as the Chief Minister candidate in stark contrast to the Opposition Congress-led combine which has given the thumbs up to the Opposition leader, Mr Oommen Chandy.
The LDF campaign managers say publicly that for them ideology is more important than individuals, but privately they understand the need to project a leader to tune into mass psychology. But they are unable to do it because of the troubles within the CPI(M).
Though one set of leaders favour the Chief Minister, Mr V. S. Achuthanandan, they are unable to say it publicly as his arch enemy in the party, the State secretary, Mr Pinarayi Vijayan, refuses to toe this line.
“The party will decide next Chief Minister at the appropriate time,” he said on Thursday when asked who would be at the helm if the LDF is voted to power.
Though the CPI(M) general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, had said that Mr Achuthanandan was leading the campaign, Mr Vijayan said that “all of us” are leading the campaign and not any “one person”. The meaning was not lost on anyone. When pointed out that his party general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, had said he personably preferred Mr Achuthanandan as the leader, Mr Vijayan quipped: “I’m not aware of it”.
The CPI(M), despite its cadre base and increasing electoral presence, has been jinxed by a power struggle which it resolved in its two last triennial conferences. But the man, whose camp the official faction decimated, happens to be to be the darling of the masses. This is the puzzle the party faces.
Congress leaders including Mr A.K. Antony and Mr Vayalar Ravi have left no one in doubt that Mr Chandy would become Chief Minister if the UDF is elected to power. But the LDF critics raise a query. Why then is the Congress president, Mr Ramesh Chennithala, in the race when he should be taking care of the organisation? The UDF has not clarified this though there is less confusion in their camp when compared to the CPI(M).