The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Congress threw themselves into a blame game marked by recriminatory bickering in the aftermath of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) vault to victory in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and [CPI(M) State secretary M. V. Govindan sought to punch holes in the Congress claim to political primacy in the anti-Sangh Parivar INDIA Bloc by attributing the party’s debacle in the Hindi heartlands to its “delusive go-it-alone electoral strategy, soft-Hindutva line and a noticeable lack of political messaging on livelihood issues.”
The Congress struck back by accusing the CPI(M) in Kerala of prosecuting a fault-finding campaign against the party to advantage the BJP nationally in the Lok Sabha polls.
