The Communist Party of India (Marxist) may have lost Kannur by-election, but some say Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan won there! A.P. Abdullakutty, a former comrade, considered to be close to Achuthanandan, has won the Kannur assembly seat, a part of the red bastion in the state, by an emphatic margin of 12,046 votes on Tuesday. Any CPM leader in the state would admit that his “too much proximity” with VS, arch rival of powerful party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, was one of the reasons behind the two-time party MP’s exit from the communist party. He had been expelled from the CPM few days after he praised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his developmental works in the state.

 

Since he came out of the cadre-based party, the 42-year-old former comrade has been a major headache for the CPM. His speeches in the run-up to the recent Lok Sabha elections – he had apparently addressed 117 public rallies against the CPM – were full of sharp criticism against CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and Vijayan. A fiery speaker in Malayalam, Abdullakutty was never missed by Kerala’s numerous television channels! But even some comrades privately say that Abdullakutty’s victory has to be considered as a win for Achuthanandan, who was expelled from the politburo for violating discipline in July this year.

 

However, hardcore comrades do not agree that Abdullakutty’s victory was a surprise. “The CPM never could dominate politics in Kannur assembly and the civic bodies. The Muslims, Nambiars and rich Eazhavas there have never been Communist supporters,” pointed out a CPM supporter from Thiruvananthapuram. However, Kannur parliamentary constituency has been a red bastion for long till Congress veteran K. Sudhakaran broke that in the recent Lok Sabha polls.