THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPI which has been struggling to come out of the ‘payment seat’ quagmire has once again been plunged into a new low with the revelations of senior leader P Ramachandran Nair further stirring the political filth heaped up in the inner circles of the party.
Leaving the party leadership in a sorry plight, Ramachandran Nair has made serious charges that has “unmasked’’ the face of the top leadership of a party which till the end of the last decade was respected for the personal integrity of its leaders and their tradition of political morality.
Ramachandran Nair, in his belated attempt to wriggle out of the issue, has clearly stated that it was the party secretariat led by party secretary Pannian Ravindran which ‘’imposed’’ the Lok Sabha candidature of Dr Bennet Abraham, on the state executive at the ‘’behest’’ of K E Ismail and with the ‘’connivance’’ of Kanam Rajendran.
According to him, the majority of the state executive members had rejected the decision, only to be vetoed by Pannian and Ismail.
C Divakaran’s role has not been mentioned by Ramachandran Nair. However, it is a fact that Divakaran, despite figuring in the panel of candidates, showed no interest in contesting the LS seat as he found it advantageous to retain the post of legislature party leader. Other names which figured in the list of candidates prepared by the District Council were Pannian himself and P Ramachandran Nair.
While Pannian wanted to retain his top post, it was the name of Ramachandran Nair alone that finally came up before the state secretariat.
The fact that he had unsuccessfully contested the 2009 LS poll and that he wanted to contest from Nedumangad in the upcoming Assembly polls were clearly known to the leadership.
It was at this juncture that “vested interests’’ in the state secretariat insisted on fielding Dr Bennet. Despite the party claiming that Dr Bennet had always been a fellow traveller, it was ironic that he was shown the way to the party headquarters by Suseelan, a leader who had faced disciplinary action.
According to Ramachandran Nair, the fact that the secretariat led by Pannian and Ismail could veto the dissent note of 18 out of the 31 state executive members on Bennet’s candidature, speaks volumes about the “democratic set-up” in the party.