Elections in Kerala have mostly been seen through the prism of an LDF-UDF binary over the years. But in 2026, the plot is far from being an elementary one. While the Bharatiya Janata Party’s gradual rise in the state is one issue that would keep the analysts curious in this election, instances where leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of the LDF (Left Democratic Front) are shifting bases to the Opposition camps, including the arch-rival Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), are also grabbing eyeballs.
Communist leader inaugurates Congress office
Vision this. A veteran communist leader inaugurating an office of the UDF in Alappuzha, one of the 140 constituencies in Kerala that would cast ballots on April 9. On Thursday (March 26), The Federal reached Alappuzha to attend the inauguration of the central election committee office of AD Thomas, a Kerala Students Union (KSU) leader who is set to challenge the LDF’s PP Chitharanjan, the constituency’s sitting MLA.
The occasion saw the presence of, besides the party’s local leaders and workers, former Alappuzha MP Manoj Kurisinkal and the vice president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, AA Shukkoor.
For a party/alliance aiming to wrest power from a rival which is burdened by a decade-heavy anti-incumbency, it should have been a moment of rejuvenation. But as this correspondent saw, to the contrary, it was more about a tense anticipation and even something closer to disbelief, especially for many of the Congress workers present on the spot.
Reason?
They were expecting G Sudhakaran, a former CPI(M) leader and a two-time minister in the state, who was once a formidable adversary of the same party which was now waiting for him, in Alappuzha district. In a strange turn of events, the veteran is set to contest from the neighbouring Ambalappuzha seat as an Independent backed by the UDF. Sudarshan will challenge H Salam, the sitting MLA from the high-profile constituency, which the former represented between 2006 and 2021 and was denied a ticket in the last Assembly elections.
H Salam, the LDF candidate and sitting MLA from Ambalappuzha, campaigns in his constituency for the April 9 elections in Kerala. He will be challenged by G Sudhakaran, a former CPI(M) leader and three-time winner from the same seat.
It is around the 79-year-old rebel, who decided against renewing his party membership earlier in March that Alappuzha’s political narrative is shifting.
Top leaders of the state Congress are not complaining, however, as they sense an opportunity. Shukkoor is one among them.
‘CPI(M) in Alappuzha now led by criminals’
“When I was the district Congress committee president, he (Sudhakaran) was the CPI(M)’s district secretary. We had many one-on-one confrontations. I have taken him on in the Assembly also. I have levelled allegations against him. But what we alleged as wrongdoing then, he was doing for hisparty, and deep down we all knew he is a very straightforward communist. Now the CPI(M) in Alappuzha is led by a bunch of criminal leaders, and he stands out. With him turning sides, there is a certain chance of at least three to four constituencies shifting our way,” he told The Federal.
People like Shukkoor and others were not let down by Sudhakaran. Even as he arrived an hour-and-a-half late, he more than made it up by launching a fierce attack on his former party, which he had helped build in Alappuzha.
The charges that were brought against the CPI(M) leadership included drifting away from its ideological core and choosing comfort over conviction.
Linking a poet’s philosophy with politics, he said, “There was a poet called Omar Khayyam. His philosophy was simple: be happy for this moment, because this moment is your life. Eat, drink and enjoy, tomorrow is not yours.”
Sudhakaran added, “The CPI(M) leaders have become like that. They spend and celebrate without thinking of tomorrow. They will not allow good leaders to grow; they only create their own clones. The party has deteriorated morally.”
For Alappuzha, a district where the CPI(M) has long exercised deep organisational control, this is not just dissent but a rupture.
CPI(M) knows what Sudhakaran is ‘capable of’
The party has chosen to react with caution. Its state secretary MV Govindan, has conceded internally that even if the party retains power this time, losing Ambalappuzha would still be considered a significant setback.
The party knows Sudhakaran’s strength does not lie in cadre mobilisation alone, but in his ability to influence the floating voter.
“He might not get our cadre support. But we are well aware of what he is capable of getting in terms of popular votes, which would be something to worry about,” a senior leader of the party said.
However, while a section of the CPI(M) camp does not deny that Sudhakaran resembles the traditional communist virtues of clean image and personal austerity, there are younger voices that counter him in a radical tone.
SFI leader accuses veteran of politicising brother’s murder
Students’ Federation of India leader M Sivaprasad is one. While recalling how Sudhakaran once shaped a generation of cadres through narratives of martyrdom, he has now accused the former of conveniently changing them, even if they are related to his murdered younger brother, only to suit an alleged quest for power.
“When we gave floral tributes to our martyred comrade G Bhuvaneswaran, Sudhakaran’s brother, every year, we used to listen to a man who would give speeches about his brother getting brutally killed (almost five decades ago) by KSU goons. Many of us became SFI after hearing those speeches. But now, the same Sudhakaran says that it was not KSU but feudal Nairs who killed his brother. How does Sudhakaran reinterpret the politics surrounding his own brother’s killing for the sake of power?” Sivaprasad asked.
Such statements reveal the kind and depth of ideological and emotional turmoil that is now brewing within the CPI(M) in Alappuzha.
Another strand of this counter-narrative comes from Omanakkuttan, a local CPI(M) worker whose life intersected with Sudhakaran’s political journey in a very different way.
Omanakkuttan was once accused by sections of the media of siphoning money from a refugee camp through the collection of donations from inmates. The story quickly spiralled into a full-blown media trial. Even Sudhakaran, then a minister, publicly criticised him harshly.
However, it was established subsequently Omanakkuttan had only sought Rs 70 as auto fare to fetch firewood for a community kitchen in the camp, of which he himself was an inmate. He did not have enough money in his pocket after buying the firewood. But by the time the truth emerged, the damage had already been done.
Omanakuttan has remained in the party and is also actively campaigning for Salam, who Sudhakaran is challenging in Ambalapuzzha. He has a moralistic take on Sudhakaran’s rebellion.
‘I am still with party, Sudhakaran in enemy camp’
“Look, I am still with the party today, with responsibilities for the election and actively campaigning for Salam. And look at Sudhakaran, where he is now, in the enemy camp. No one is above the party except for our martyrs,” he said.
The battle in Alappuzha has emerged into not just one related to votes and their counts, but also the ownership of ideology and legacy.
For the Congress, Sudhakaran is that earthquake which would cause cracks in the CPI(M)’s vote base and open up possibilities in other constituencies in Alappuzha district, including Kuttanad, Kayamkulam, and Cherthala, besides Alappuzha.
But writing off the CPI(M) would not be a wise calculation either. It still can boast about an organisational strength, a disciplined cadre base, and the capacity to mobilise voters at the grassroots level. To what extent the party can use these weapons to nullify the home-grown missile called Sudhakaran is something that the entire Kerala, and particularly the Congress, will keep a close watch on, come May 4.
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