Time for change in leadership, says CPI leader on Left's performance in Kerala

After Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Front's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, veteran CPI leader C. Divakaran on Thursday said it was time for a change in leadership.

The Left was able to win just one seat out of the 20 Lok Sabha seats. And the CPI drew a blank in the four seats it contested.

Though without taking names, Divakaran, a former state minister and a two-time former legislator said changes have to take place and the Left cannot go forward like this.

“There have to be large-scale changes and the way should be cleared for the youth. When this is said, there should not be any thought from some corners of asking the need for a check of the mental stability,” said Divakaran.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Divakaran, who was then a sitting legislator, was fielded to take on Congress' Shashi Tharoor and lost by over 99,000 votes. Incidentally, the number of votes he got then was more votes than what Paniyan Ravindran, his party colleague, secured in the 2024 polls.

With Divakaran firing the first shot, senior RJD leader, a Left ally in Kerala, Varghese George said the time has come for serious introspection by the Left Democratic Front ( LDF).

“The vote share has dipped by around 10 per cent for the Left and is a big issue and there has to be serious discussions. We need to be considered for a Rajya Sabha seat,” said George.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Cherian Phillip, who for a decade was a fellow traveller of the CPI(M), said the way the present CPI(M) is moving in Kerala reminds one of the situation in West Bengal.

“While it took 34 years of rule for the CPI(M) to be wiped out in West Bengal. The situation after the results here in 18 Assembly constituencies held by Kerala Ministers shows they have gone behind. The writing on the wall is clear, if things remain like this, the party will be blown away in the 2026 Assembly polls,” said Phillip.

All eyes are on the meeting of the LDF and also when the CPI(M) meets and it remains to be seen if CM Vijayan’s style of functioning will be taken up at the party’s meeting.