The rapidly metastasising Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into the money laundering aspect of the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank scam will have a bearing on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], the Congress, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), especially in the Thrissur parliamentary constituency, and perhaps wider, as the Lok Sabha election season draws nearer by the day.
The Central investigation has cast many CPI(M) leaders in Thrissur under a harsh and unflattering spotlight. For one, the BJP has scented an advantage for Suresh Gopi, its star campaigner and prospective candidate in Thrissur, in CPI(M)‘s “discomfiture”. Mr. Gopi had increased the party’s vote share by 17.5% in Thrissur in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He bagged 28.2% of the total votes polled.
