Accusing the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] of targeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to hide its own failures, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K. C. Venugopal, MP, said that outside Kerala the party manages to maintain its Parliament representation only with the support of Congress and its allies.

On Saturday (June 14, 2026), former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had accused Mr. Gandhi of taking political positions that will help the BJP, instead of strengthening the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc. CPI(M) General Secretary M.A. Baby had said that Mr. Gandhi should stop being a facilitator for the ED and the Modi government by demanding the arrest of Mr. Vijayan and other Opposition leaders.

The series of exchanges began with Mr. Gandhi’s speech at the INDIA bloc meeting during which he said that he can never hug the former Chief Minister of Kerala as he has an “ongoing political fight with him”

Mr. Venugopal said in a Facebook post on Sunday (June 14, 2026) that the CPI(M) leadership’s reactions reveal their “political inferiority complex”, which has reduced them to the Opposition even in Kerala.

“Whether in Rajasthan or Tamil Nadu, those who won after attracting votes by holding up Mr. Gandhi’s posters are now trying to insult him by calling him an ED agent. The leader of the largest Opposition party takes charge as the Leader of the Opposition. The CPI(M) leadership, which is not ready to accept this fact has come out to question Mr. Gandhi’s leadership skills. Anyone who understands politics will understand that the CPI(M)’s miserable failure in Kerala is the real reason behind such reactions. If the CPI(M) continues to attack Mr. Gandhi instead of objectively assessing the reasons for its defeat, even bigger defeats are in store for them,” he said.

Defending the alliance with Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Tamil Nadu, he said that the Congress collaborated with the TVK after the elections not out of greed for power, but to avoid President’s rule that the BJP tried to implement in Tamil Nadu and to form a secular government.

“The CPI(M) conveniently forgets that it also later followed the same political stance taken by the Congress. While the Congress has always worked with the wider interests of the country in mind, the CPI(M) is guided by its own narrow interests. The INDIA bloc is a broad platform formed by the Congress to protect the country’s democracy and constitution from the BJP’s dictatorship. The alliance was formed with the aim of ousting the BJP from power. Sitaram Yechury, who was the CPI(M) General Secretary, was clearly aware of the objectives of forming the alliance,” he said.

He said Mr. Gandhi is leading an uncompromising fight against the BJP, which uses investigative agencies to eliminate political opponents.

“Mr. Gandhi himself is a victim of this personally. But the CPI(M) at present is playing a brand of narrow politics that looks only at the local agendas in the States, without a common position at the national level. It is because of this narrow vision that the Communist Party has collapsed even in West Bengal. Instead of making baseless allegations against Mr. Gandhi, the CPI(M) leaders should be prepared to introspect about this collapse of the party,” said Mr. Venugopal.