The campaigning for the local body elections is set to unfold when political hostilities appeared to be at an all-time high in the State.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) and its principal opponents, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have accused each other of using the power of the State to target political rivals and their families personally.
The Congress has protested against the move on the part of the government to resurrect the charge of rape levelled against its top leaders by the woman suspect in the solar investment fraud case that rocked the Oommen Chandy government in 2014.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the LDF seemed desperate to turn the conversation away from the ongoing investigation against Bineesh Kodiyeri and M. Sivasankar.
The dire situation had prompted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to take a page from authoritarian regimes. He had unleashed the law enforcement against Congress leaders in an attempt to change the damaging narrative.
(The police on Tuesday booked KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran on a charge of misogyny).
BJP president K. Surendran said the government, impaired by the gold smuggling scandal, was facing unexpectedly strong political headwinds ahead of the local body and Assembly elections.
Central investigations had come awkwardly close to the CPI(M) leadership and the government. Enforcement Directorate in Karnataka had zeroed in on Bineesh’s businesses and contacts in Kerala. Its office in Kochi had directed the State government to submit the details of at least four big projects promoted by Mr. Sivasankar at the behest of Mr. Vijayan.
Mr. Vijayan was threatening the central agencies. He had unleashed the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to impede ongoing investigations by the Central law enforcement into the shenanigans of the State government, Mr. Surendran said.
At the same time, the government appeared to have laid the ground for a protracted legal battle over the limitations of Central authority and rights of States. It hoped to find common cause with other non-BJP ruled States, which have accused the Centre of jurisdictional overreach.
The LDF is also poised to launch a major campaign to counter the adverse propaganda triggered by the gold smuggling case. It wants to go to the hustings leaning on the developmental achievements of the government and not by contrasting the vilification by the Congress and the BJP. The CPI(M) State secretariat on Friday is likely to weigh the political situation.