Thiruvananthapuram: The CPI(M), despite being the coalition partner of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, has reasons to worry over the entry of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi in the electoral fray from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat as it could hit the prospects of the ruling party in Kerala in the upcoming bypolls to two Assembly seats.
Along with the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, Palakkad and Chelakkara Assembly seats will also go to bypolls as sitting MLAs are elected to the Lok Sabha.
Defeat in the Assembly bypolls could prove costly for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is now struggling to justify that the defeat of Left-front in 19 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala had nothing to do with the anti-incumbency, but due to the pro-Congress trend to fight against the BJP at the national level. This justification could suffer a setback if the CPM loses the Assembly polls, especially Chelakkara in Thrissur, which has been its sitting seat since 1996.
"When a top leader like Priyanka is in the fray at Wayanad, it could probably have a positive impact for the Congress in the two Assembly seats in the region going to the polls," says senior political commentator and former pro-vice chancellor of Kerala University J Prabhash.
CPM senior leader and Devaswom minister K Radhakrishan was the sitting MLA of Chelakkara, which is in Thrissur district. In the Lok Sabha election, Radhakrishan defeated Congress's sitting MP Ramya Haridas at Alathur Lok Sabha seat that comprises of Chelakkara Assembly segment. Even as Radhakrishnan won with a margin of 39,400 votes in Chelakkara in 2021, left-front votes in the Assembly segment came down to around 5,000 in this Lok Sabha poll.
Palakkad is going to bypoll as three-time sitting MLA Shafi Parambil of Congress won from the Vadakara Lok Sabha seat. The Palakkad Assembly seat has been witnessing a Congress - BJP fight over the last few elections.
The LDF has a comfortable majority of 99 seats in the 140 member Kerala Assembly and the bypoll outcome will not affect the government in terms of numbers in the house. But, any defeat in the two Assembly bypolls, especially CPM's stronghold, could put the Pinarayi government in the firing line even from within the party.