Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), said on Monday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance’s ‘growth’ and the simultaneous ‘weakening’ of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) have broadened the ruling Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) path to a third consecutive victory in the Assembly elections in 2026.
In an editorial in the SNDP Union’s mouthpiece Yoga Nadam, Mr. Natesan added a few riders. He appeared to echo the All India Trinamool Congress State convenor and former LDF independent legislator P.V. Anvar’s bleak view of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
Mr. Natesan opined that the actions of certain people in the CMO dimmed the sheen of the government and the CPI(M). He alleged that the party leaders and cadre have had bad experiences in their interactions with the CMO.
He urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to take the criticism in good faith and take remedial action. Mr. Natesan said Ezhavas were the CPI(M)‘s unshakeable base and backbone. He conceded that the CPI(M) accommodated Ezhavas in organisational posts, including district secretaries.
‘Not in top posts’
“However, when it came to top posts, including vice-chancellorship, Rajya Sabha nominations and PSC membership, the CPI(M) leadership tends to forget its roots,” he said.
Mr. Natesan said Mr. Vijayan was irreplaceable as the CPI(M)chief ministerial candidate. “There is no other leader with such public stature and standing in the LDF. Any move to supplant him will have disastrous political consequences,” he added.
He said the LDF’s ‘overzealous affinity’ towards politicians from ‘organised religions’ had upset the majority community. “Their estrangement reflected in the 2024 Lok Sabha election results,” he added.
Mr. Natesan’s perspective appeared to dovetail with CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan’s assertion that a right-wing drift within the Ezhava community and in the SNDP Yogam leadership had impaired the LDF’s prospects in the Lok Sabha polls and catalysed the BJP’s relatively good showing.
On Congress, BJP
Mr. Natesan slammed the Congress for ‘sidelining’ Ezhava leaders. “The Congress has only one MLA from the Ezhava community. Even the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president’s (who hails from the community) position in the party is increasingly shaky,” he said.
He stated that other communities had positioned their members in “key roles in successive governments” and had utilised their influence to marginalise Ezhava leaders.
Despite the BDJS, the SNDP’s political wing, being an NDA ally, Mr. Natesan said that the lot of Ezhavas in the BJP appeared worse. He blamed the three fronts for “turning a blind eye” towards Ezhavas when finalising candidates.
Mr. Natesan asked the community, which he said comprises 29% of the population and was the State’s biggest electoral bloc, to show its heft in the upcoming local body polls to “wrest back” their political power.
