Kottayam, Sep 18 (IANS) The Communist Party of India (CPI), the second-largest constituent of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), is turning up the heat on its larger ally CPI(M) in the aftermath of the Left’s crushing defeat in the Assembly elections.

CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam has now trained his guns directly on the previous LDF government and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, accusing the government of failing to protect the toddy industry and its traditional workers.

His latest attack comes as the LDF, now in Opposition, is under pressure to explain why it lost several of its traditional strongholds. The CPI(M) itself faced sharp criticism over the electoral debacle at its recent extended state committee meeting.

On Friday, speaking at the state conference of the Kerala State Toddy Workers Federation (AITUC) in Vaikom, Viswam said the CPI had repeatedly raised the toddy sector’s problems at LDF meetings.

The CPI had sought a reduction in the 400-metre distance restriction for toddy shops from places of worship and educational institutions. But the government did not act, he said.

At the same time, the distance restriction for bars was reduced to 50 metres. This amounted to two different standards for toddy shops and bars, Viswam alleged.

He said Vijayan had admitted at an LDF meeting that the CPI’s demand was justified, but nothing was done during the government’s five-year term. “It is not enough to say that something will be corrected. It has to be corrected,” Viswam said.

The CPI leader also delivered a broader message on the election defeat. He said the LDF must conduct an honest introspection. Even the Left’s own people did not vote for it in the election, he claimed.

The fact that party workers did not vote for the LDF was wrong, he said, but the leadership must also ask why they reached that point. “Did we give our comrades enough importance? Did we listen to them? Did we understand them?” Viswam asked.

He said the LDF should not have lost traditional strongholds such as Vaikom, Taliparamba, Payyannur, Kodungallur and Ambalappuzha. “Defeat is defeat. If there was a failure, we must admit that it was a failure,” he said.

The remarks underline the CPI’s growing insistence that the Left cannot explain away the electoral setback without examining the previous government’s functioning and its relationship with its own cadre and supporters.

For the CPI(M), already facing an internal debate over responsibility for the defeat, the latest criticism from its principal ally adds another layer to the post-poll reckoning.

–IANS

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