Keralam bypoll results a strong indicator that CPI(M) has not lost its ground: A. Vijayaraghavan

CPI(M) leader A. Vijayaraghavan (file) | Photo Credit: S. MAHINSHA Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Polit Bureau member A. Vijayaraghavan has said that the outcome of the by-elections held in Keralam has proved that the Left front “cannot be uprooted from the hearts of the public.”The electorate has responded against the United Democratic Front (UDF) government at the first opportunity after it came to power, he said in his inaugural address at the extended Ernakulam District Committee meeting of the CPI(M) in Kochi on Wednesday to discuss the party’s electoral setback in the 2026 Assembly elections.Mr. Vijayaraghavan said the bypoll results had come as a befitting reply to the campaign that the CPI(M) had lost its ground. “Our opponents will now accelerate their efforts to weaken it and we have to resist such attempts,” he said.He accused Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan of not yet coming clear on who had sponsored his recent chartered flight to Malappuram. The government needed to carry out an introspection as such trips lacked transparency, he alleged.On the recent foreign trips of a few Ministers in the UDF government, Mr. Vijayaraghavan said they needed to be aware that they were bound by protocol while making such trips abroad. They needed to check the credentials of those offering them hospitality abroad. The CPI(M) had regulated the foreign trips of its Ministers in the first few years after it came to power, he claimed.Mr. Vijayaraghavan said the party would conduct a serious scrutiny of the reasons behind its defeat in the Assembly polls and initiate the required course correction. Published - September 30, 2026 02:53 pm IST