Serious erosion in party's support base: M.A Baby

Kottayam: Striking a self-critical note, CPI(M) politburo member M A Baby Friday said there has been a serious erosion in the party's support base as reflected in the Lok Sabha polls last year and it was essential to introspect the reasons for this and take corrective steps.

"CPI(M) could have performed better in Kerala and it is facing the biggest challenge in West Bengal," he said in his opening address at a party meeting at Ettumannur near here.

"There is serious erosion in the party's support base. The party had received its severest drubbing in history in the last Lok Sabha polls. The party should attempt a self- critical analysis to ascertain the reasons for that," he said.

Baby said there was no point in boasting about the LDF in Kerala having doubled its tally by winning eight seats this time from four in 2004 Parliament polls as it could have performed much better given the circumstances in the state.

Significantly, the most glaring loss suffered by the CPI(M) in Kerala was the defeat of Baby himself in his home turf Kollam at the hands of RSP's N K Premachandran.

The state unit of the RSP had left the LDF and joined the Congress-led UDF on the eve of the polls.