While the recent Kerala Assembly elections saw the ouster of the country’s last CPI(M)-led Left government, the poll outcome has also left one of the Left’s ideological embers in the form of C P John glowing in the new Congress-led UDF government.
A first-time MLA, John, 68, is the lone legislator of the Communist Marxist Party (CMP), who has been inducted as the Transport Minister in the Chief Minister V D Satheesan-led Cabinet in Kerala.
A long-standing partner of the UDF, John is now the only communist minister serving in any state government. This is the first time in five decades that the Left is not in power in any state in the country.
John, who is also the leader of Confederation of Indian Communists and Democratic Socialists (CICDS), a coalition of splinter communist parties in the country, said he is planning to strengthen the organisation.
In the polls, John trounced a Left-backed Independent to win the Thiruvananthapuram Assembly seat, even as the UDF ended the decade-long rule of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF.
During the Satheesan Cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony Monday, John, who is also the CMP general secretary, underscored his communist roots by opting for a solemn affirmation instead of taking the oath in the name of God, unlike 19 other ministers. The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)’s Shibu Baby John also opted for a solemn affirmation.
The last time the CMP bagged a seat in an Assembly election was in 2001. At the time, party founder and its sole MLA from Trivandrum West, M V Raghavan, who had walked out of the CPI(M) in 1986, also served as a minister in the UDF government.
In the 2026 elections, the Congress was keen to allot a “safe seat” to John, who had not made it to the Assembly despite being a key UDF face over the last three decades. In 2011 and 2016, John had contested the Kunnamkulam seat, but could not win.
This time, he contested from Thiruvananthapuram – a seat won by the UDF in all but one election since 1977 – despite resentment among a section of the UDF leaders. But John emerged victorious with a margin of nearly 10,000 votes, defeating the LDF’s Sudheer Karamana, an actor, and the BJP’s Karamana Jayan.
In 1986, the CPI(M) had ousted its Kannur heavyweight M V Raghavan after he argued for an alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). John had then been a part of the national leadership of the party’s student wing Students’ Federation of India (SFI). At a time when most prominent leaders chose to remain with the CPI(M), John took a different path. Along with Raghavan, he left the party and played a key role in the CMP’s formation.
A fiery young communist, John soon emerged as an intellectual face of the CMP, a role he continued to play after the party aligned with the UDF. During the two UDF regimes from 2001 to 2006 and 2011 to 2016, he served as a member of the State Planning Board, helping shape various development projects.
After Raghavan’s death in 2014, the CMP suffered a split with a section of leaders later merging again with the CPI(M). Despite the party weakening over the years, John stuck to its ideology. In 2011, when the UDF came to power, John lost his contest by just 481 votes.
On his long political journey, John told The Indian Express that “There is no room for despair. We cannot say the recognition came very late. It is politics.”
John, who is also the leader of Confederation of Indian Communists and Democratic Socialists (CICDS), a coalition of splinter communist parties in the country, said he is planning to strengthen the organisation.“We will open communication with the CPI(M) rebels, including leaders who have come out of the party and won with UDF backing,” John said.
On the defeat of the LDF in the Kerala elections, John said, “The CPI(M) never expected they would be defeated. The party failed to realise it was heading towards defeat. That showed a breakdown in communication within its organisational structure from the grassroots to the leadership. Several prominent leaders reportedly joined hands with rebels to work against the party candidates in Taliparamba, Payyannur and Ambalapuzha seats.”
John, who has authored several books in Malayalam and English, said he had anticipated this verdict. In Ambalappuzha, where rebel CPI(M) leader G Sudhakaran emerged victorious, minority groups voted against party candidate H Salam, he claimed.
On the road ahead for the CPI(M), John said that “anything can happen” in the party. “The CPI(M) will break up without (ex-CM) Pinarayi Vijayan in the present situation. The coming days could be highly unpredictable for the party. Although Pinarayi has suffered an electoral setback, he remains organisationally strong. This election showed that the CPI(M) no longer has any sure seats to win. The party has lost several of its traditional citadels, and the election results have shattered them,” John said.
