CPI-M Wears A Smile, But ED Cloud Hangs Over Vijayan Camp

(MENAFN- IANS) Kozhikode, Sep 15 (IANS) The CPI-M leadership has put up a smiling face as its extended three-day Kerala state committee meeting ended here on Tuesday, but the proceedings have left little doubt that the party is still grappling with the political fallout of its electoral debacle.

And, before the leadership could fully close ranks, the Enforcement Directorate investigation involving former Chief Minister and Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan's family added a fresh layer of uncertainty.

The timing could hardly have been more uncomfortable for the party.

The day the state committee meeting concluded began with television channels flashing details of the 25-page report sent by the ED to the state police chief in connection with the CMRL-Exalogic case and alleged hawala transactions involving Vijayan's daughter T. Veena and her husband and former minister P.A. Mohammed Riyas.

The allegations have been denied, but the political impact of the revelations could prove harder to contain than the legal questions themselves.

The state committee meeting was convened in the aftermath of the party's electoral rout, which saw the CPI-M-led LDF reduced to a dramatically diminished force and forced the party leadership to confront questions over its style of functioning, political messaging and organisational weaknesses.

The three-day deliberations were consequently watched for signs of a substantive course correction and, more importantly, whether responsibility for the setback would travel upwards.

The leadership has sought to project unity.

The two committees were slightly reconstituted, and the 307 delegates eventually joined the public meeting, where thousands of party workers and supporters had gathered.

There was no visible sign of an organisation in disarray.

But the ED investigation has changed the political equation in ways that cannot be settled through organisational restructuring alone.

Riyas, who was present at the public meeting, appeared confident when asked about the allegations. Dismissing the media revelations, he said: "No wrong has been done at all."

His assertion reflects the line the leadership is likely to maintain as the investigation progresses.

The larger question, however, is whether the ED probe will remain a legal battle for the individuals concerned or evolve into another political liability for a party already struggling to recover from its electoral collapse.

For Vijayan, the stakes are particularly high.

He has so far maintained silence on the outcome of the state committee meeting even as questions over the ED findings increasingly hover over his political legacy.

For Riyas and Veena too, the unfolding investigation could become a prolonged political burden.

The CPI-M may have succeeded in ending its three-day exercise with a show of confidence, but whether that confidence survives the next phase of the ED onslaught will remain the real test.

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