New Delhi, June 27 (IANS) The CPI-M Politburo has ruled out any immediate leadership change in Kerala despite the party’s crushing Assembly election defeat, effectively giving former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and State secretary M.V. Govindan a reprieve while directing the state unit to undertake sweeping organisational reforms.

At its two-day meeting that ended in New Delhi on Saturday, the Politburo concluded that the electoral setback stemmed largely from flawed candidate selection, organisational weaknesses and the party leadership’s failure to gauge public sentiment.

Rather than opting for a change at the top, it decided to initiate a comprehensive rectification process, with a detailed review to be taken up at the Central Committee meeting beginning July 11.

The Politburo also approved a rectification document, incorporating changes suggested during its deliberations, which will form the basis for the party’s organisational overhaul.

The draft submitted by the Kerala unit was not accepted in its original form.

According to the document, one of the unhealthy trends within the party was the growing fascination among some leaders with parliamentary positions and electoral office.

It cautions against the belief that parliamentary politics alone can resolve people’s problems and calls for correcting such tendencies within the organisation.

During the discussions, senior leaders reportedly cited the examples of veterans G. Sudhakaran, T.K. Govindan and V. Kunjikrishnan, who had contested elections as part of fronts outside the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front.

The Politburo is learnt to have observed that the Kerala leadership failed to assess the anti-incumbency mood and public criticism against both the government and the party.

It also found that the party had become increasingly disconnected from the grassroots, with organisational structures at the local and branch levels weakening considerably.

The central leadership reportedly concluded that the selection of candidates without adequately factoring in local political realities and constituency-level sentiments had cost the party heavily.

It also noted the failure to provide sufficient opportunities to younger and more acceptable faces, even as the party’s traditional vote base showed visible signs of erosion.

The Politburo further directed the Kerala unit to immediately revive grassroots organisational activity, reconnect with people’s issues and address growing dissatisfaction among party workers and supporters.

It also noted that controversies surrounding cooperative banks and other administrative lapses had damaged the party’s credibility and advised the state leadership to candidly acknowledge its shortcomings before the public.

While criticism was voiced during the meeting over the functioning of the then Pinarayi Vijayan government, excessive bureaucratic dominance and the role of certain individuals in the electoral debacle, the Politburo stopped short of discussing any leadership change.

Instead, it asked the Kerala unit to focus on organisational rebuilding and function as a constructive Opposition.

General Secretary M.A. Baby, who presented the draft report before the Politburo, declined to say whether the Kerala unit’s report had been accepted in full, indicating only that the revised document would now be debated in detail by the Central Committee.

–IANS

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