6 min read Thrissur May 5, 2026 03:04 PM IST First published on: May 5, 2026 at 03:04 PM IST Thomas Isaac, CPM veteran and Kerala’s former Finance Minister, had agreed to speak on the day the assembly election results came in, and that turned out to be quite a day. “Even giving you this interview is going out, don’t embarrass me further,” he said with a smile, asking not to be pushed hard on difficult questions. The results had shocked the Left. The LDF had been reduced to 35 seats. The UDF score had crossed a hundred. Thirteen sitting ministers lost their seats. The scale of it was, as Isaac put it, without a parallel. “This is the heaviest defeat the Left Democratic Front has ever suffered. There are no comparisons anywhere in Kerala’s history,” the 73-year-old said. Why Progress Did Not Count Issac did not try the usual escape hatches such as blaming a political conspiracy.…