In a move to steady the ship after a bruising performance in the local body elections, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has announced that he will personally take the helm of the LDF’s upcoming Assembly election campaign. Speaking at a CPM secretariat meeting in Pathanamthitta, Vijayan exuded confidence, insisting that despite recent setbacks, a strong comeback is on the horizon. While he steered clear of confirming whether he would personally contest a seat, the party's top brass, including MA Baby, has already dubbed him the "captain" of the team, signaling that the CPM is doubling down on his leadership to secure a historic continuity of power.
The party isn't just relying on rhetoric; they are currently in the middle of a massive door-to-door outreach programme designed to diagnose why they lost ground in local polls. With seat-sharing talks slated for early February, there is a clear sense of urgency to fix internal leaks. Part of that strategy involves a pivot in governance, with the upcoming Budget expected to be heavily "people-centric" to win back a wary electorate before the state goes to the polls.
Beyond the local political skirmish, the Chief Minister used his Republic Day message to cast himself as a defender of the national identity. In a pointed critique of the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, Vijayan warned that India’s constitutional soul is under threat from "monolithic ideologies." He did not mince words on the question of federalism, charging the Centre with using constitutional institutions as weapons and undermining the financial autonomy of states.
In positioning the development model of Kerala as a specific counterpoint to the policies of the Centre, Vijayan is clearly seeking to use the state election as a platform for a wider struggle for secularism and democracy. His message was one of rallying the troops for "New Kerala" in opposition to the politics of division. For the LDF, the next few months will be a proving ground for whether this combination of grassroots work and high-level constitutional politics can pay off in a second term.
Also read: Priyanka intervenes to pacify Congress-Tharoor tussle: Sources
Follow us
