The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), which suffered a whitewash this poll, is about to log a record of sorts: This will be the first time since 1970 that it has no representative in the Kerala Assembly.
The party made a splash in April 2014 when it crossed over from the Left Democratic Front (LDF), fused itself with the RSP(B) faction, and crossed over to the United Democratic Front (UDF), to win the Kollam Lok Sabha seat with a handsome majority. But it lost all the five seats it had contested, in the Assembly elections.
Cadre exodus
The biggest crisis staring the RSP now is the renewed fear of a mass exodus from the cadre, which it had been apprehensive about after crossing over to the UDF. The majority of those severing ties with the party had got the support of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and many of the them were also welcomed into the CPI(M). This phenomenon is expected to gain momentum in the coming days.
The party getting routed in all the three constituencies in Kollam district is attributed to the failure of the UDF government in addressing the crisis in the cashew sector which resulted in thousands of cashew workers losing their means of livelihood. There is also apprehension that the party’s trade union wing the United Trade Union Congress is poised to become a non-entity in the cashew sector.
Big guns lose
Among the losers are party State secretary A.A. Azeez and party strongman Shibu Baby John, the Labour Minister in the outgoing Oommen Chandy Cabinet.
What annoys the party most is that one of its leaders Kovoor Kunjumon, who left the party and floated his own RSP faction, contested from Kunnathur with LDF support seeking a fourth consecutive term and won with a big majority of 20,529 votes.
Mr. Shibu who had won twice from Chavara could not succeed this time even though it was the first time he got the opportunity to contest on the official symbol of the RSP, the spade and hoe.
At Eravipuram, Mr. Azeez was trounced by his nearest rival M. Noushad of the LDF by a margin of 28,803 votes. Party leader N.K. Premachandran, MP, said that the failure to solve the cashew sector crisis was the main reason for the UDF getting routed in Kollam district.
