THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM state committee members on Friday criticised the Kottayam district committee for its failure to take advantage of the pro LDF wave during the recent Assembly elections. The state committee felt that while other districts succeeded in rallying minorities behind the LDF in a big way, the Kottayam leadership failed to attract them resulting in poor results winning just two of the nine seats in the district.
The defeat in Poonjar where the LDF came a poor third also came up for detailed discussions. The state committee concluded that the party failed to amass its traditional votes in the constituency. The role of several district leaders has come under the scanner following the humiliating defeat.
At the state committee meeting, T.N. Seema raised the issue of her defeat in Vattiyoorkavu. She said the LDF was poised to win, but suffered a defeat owing to setbacks even in party strongholds. The reasons for party’s poor performance in its strong areas needs to be examined closely.
Apart from Vattiyoorkavu, the state committee called for a detailed analysis of the defeat in Palakkad and Konni. In Konni, despite facing serious corruption charges the former revenue minister Adoor Prakash won by a margin of over 20,000 votes.
In Palakkad, CPM candidate N.N. Krishnadas was pushed to the third place though the difference between him and Shoba Surendran of BJP was only 1,400 odd votes. The state committee felt that the LDF won nine of the 12 seat in the districts which clearly indicted a LDF wave. However, the favourable atmosphere could not be capitalised. The defeat in Kuttiyadi which was considered a safe seat, will also be examined.
