The political downfall of former Kerala Health Minister Veena George has become evident as the CPI-M’s Pathanamthitta district committee voices strong disapproval towards her. Once a promising figure in the Communist Party of India (Marxist), George now faces isolation after her defeat in the 2026 Assembly elections. Criticism at the district committee meeting highlighted her alleged aloofness from party members and elected officials.
Speaker after speaker at the meeting condemned George for her perceived unresponsiveness, citing her avoidance of phone calls and inaccessibility during crucial political moments. Party members expressed frustration over the difficulty in reaching her office, causing discontent within the party’s grassroots structure well before her electoral loss became public.
Criticism extended to her office, particularly targeting Sajeevan, a key figure in George’s circle and a close associate of former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Party leaders accused the inner circle around George of alienating party workers and local leaders, despite her initial image as a modern and media-savvy face of the CPI-M.
George, a former television anchor, entered politics under Vijayan’s guidance and won consecutive victories in the 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections, securing the Health portfolio in Vijayan’s second term. Her unexpected rise within the party raised eyebrows, bypassing senior leaders for ministerial positions. However, recent months have seen a shift in public sentiment, with criticism mounting over her handling of a Congress protest before the elections, reinforcing perceptions of her detachment from party members and voters.
Facing both electoral defeat and internal censure, George’s political future appears uncertain, compounded by the CPI-M’s tradition of promoting new faces after multiple election cycles. Having contested three Assembly elections already, prospects for her political resurgence seem increasingly bleak. For a leader who swiftly ascended from television studios to the political forefront in Kerala, the rapid reversal of fortune has caught many party members off guard.
