Party rejig: CPM, BJP neck & neck in social engineering; Cong in catch-22

While CPM, BJP included leaders from Ezhava community, Cong struggles to strike balance

- K S SREEJITH @T'Puram

AS CPM stretches its wings after district conferences, the leadership has gone for deft social engineering by electing nine out of 14 district secretaries from the Ezhava community. The party has successfully implemented an inclusive policy ensuring sufficient representation for the powerful minority communities. Though the leadership claims that the secretaries were elected based on organisational grounds, insiders said the harsh reality faced by the party in the last Parliament election, has reflected in the experimentation.

The CPM's new positioning in a changing political sphere comes in the wake of SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan's criticism. Natesan had criticised that even though parties desperately go after Ezhava votes, the community is ignored when it comes to selecting party functionaries and candidates.