Pinarayi calls SDPI's claims on CPM seeking help in Nemom as 'baseless', mum on accepting support

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday stoutly rejected the SDPI claim that the CPM and its Nemom candidate V Sivankutty had sought support from it, but at the same time displayed virtuosic political flexibility to duck the pointed question, repeatedly hurled at him by journalists, on whether the CPM would accept the support of SDPI, a formation it had labelled as "extremist".

"This is absolutely baseless. We have never made such a request," Pinarayi said about the SDPI claim that Sivankutty and the party had sought its support in Nemom. He was talking to reporters at AKG Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram.

If at all the SDPI members vote for the CPM, the CM seemed to suggest that it would be a choice prompted by the nature of the constituency and the realisation that the CPM was the best bet in the fight against the Sangh Parivar.

"We know that people will make practical choices based on the peculiarities of a constituency," the CM said, alluding to the strong BJP presence in Nemom. "But we have not sought the support of any such groups that are not part of the LDF. Sivankutty, too, has not directly sought any support," he said.

The SDPI state president, C P Abdul Latheef, had said the other day that his party had supported Sivankutty in the 2021 Assembly elections, too. Pinarayi said that if such a support was given in 2021 it was the consequence of the "favourable conditions" the UDF had created for a BJP win in Nemom.

"We had then declared that we would close the BJP's account that was opened in 2016. When it was found that we were the ones putting up the stiffest resistance against the BJP, certain groups politically opposed to us may have voted for us to defeat the BJP," the CM said. "This is not part of any deal or agreement," he said.

Like adventure movie heroes who somehow balance along the edges of alligator-infested swamps, Pinarayi refused to be drawn into quicksand questions on whether the CPM would accept SDPI votes.

"Why can't you, like CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam, unambiguously say that we don't want the vote of communal elements?" he was asked. "Next time I will get my words written by him," a seemingly irritated Pinarayi said.

Pinarayi then ignored the poser. Instead, he spoke of how the LDF had consistently strived for the protection of minorities.

"The minorities were greatly impressed by the stand of the Left. Historically, the minorities were not very close to the Left. But experience revealed to them the importance of the left. The secular-minded majority in all minority communities in Kerala stopped looking at the Left with suspicion. They were willing to embrace the Left. This is why the right-wing forces in Kerala are desperate to distort the image of the Left in Kerala," he said.

Pinarayi spoke of how his government was the first in the country to declare that the Citizenship Amendment Act would not be implemented. He pointed to the Nativity Card and said that no other state has come up with an alternative to assuage the minorities who feared that their citizenship could be annulled by the BJP-led Centre.

The direct poser was hurled once again. "The UDF has categorically stated that they do not want SDPI votes. Can't you do the same?"

Pinarayi paused for a moment, his expression an amalgam of anger and amusement. "In which world are you living in? Have you forgotten the Palakkad election? What was their stand? Don't you remember their camaraderie?" he said. The reference was perhaps to the allegation that the SDPI was the first to come out in celebration after Rahul Mamkoottathil's win in Palakkad in 2024.

Then, the roles were reversed. It was the CPM probing the UDF about its SDPI links. This is what excise minister M B Rajesh, who was in charge of the CPM's campaign in Palakkad, had then said: "UDF leaders, including the candidate, were unwilling to say that they don't need SDPI's votes even when they were repeatedly asked about it. Videos of how they struggled to answer the question are viral. It was shocking that SDPI was the first to hit the streets celebrating the UDF win."

This resentment, the party weaponised in 2024, has now returned to haunt the CPM.

The poser was put to the CM once more on Tuesday. "CM, all this confusion has now arisen because you have not given a clear answer on whether the CPM would accept SDPI votes," he was told.

Yet again, Pinarayi refused to take the bait. "It is just that you are not getting the answer that you are looking for. You want us isolated, but people are not ready for it. They want to support us in a big way," he said, blurring the line between ordinary voters and elements the CPM itself had termed "extremists".