KOZHIKODE: In a stance that has implications for the current state that the CPM finds itself in, the wife of former state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said that she is not a slave to anyone and that she has her own concepts of right or wrong.
Speaking to reporters after receiving T K Govindan, the rebel CPM leader who won from Taliparamba as a UDF-backed independent, at her house in Kodiyeri, Thalassery, on Wednesday, Vinodini said she does not consider Govindan a ‘traitor’ or a ‘tool of the enemy’. “Govindan visited me because he still nurtures deep-seated admiration for Kodiyeri. I will not use such descriptions of him,” she said.
Vinodini said Govindan and his family were close to Kodiyeri, adding that, “anyone who loves Kodiyeri and his family are welcome to my house.” No politics should be read into the visit, she added.
Govindan said Kodiyeri was part of several incidents in his personal life. “I had Kodiyeri in mind even when I contested against the party. I told a press conference earlier that the current issues would not have cropped up if Kodiyeri were among us,” he said.
Kodiyeri had an unparalleled ability to solve even the most vexed problems, he said.
“I remember Kodiyeri during every political crisis in my life,” he said. Govindan and his wife Ramani offered floral tributes at Kodiyeri’s memorial and visited the museum dedicated to the late leader in the house.
Govindan’s move is widely seen as an attempt to compare Kodiyeri with current state secretary M V Govindan, who is accused of leading the party to the present crisis. It may be recalled that CPM leaders had branded Govindan and V Kunhikrishnan, the CPM’s rebel candidate in Payyannur, enemies of the party.
This led to violent protests by party cadres against the two. The house of a party worker who supported Kunhikrishnan was attacked in Payyannur. Govindan and his wife were heckled by a group of CPM workers on election day.