KASARAGOD: The CPM Trikaripur area committee, reviewing the party’s defeat in its stronghold in the recent assembly election, has demanded the resignation of state secretary M V Govindan. The committee also called for senior leaders like K K Shailaja and P Jayarajan to return to the party’s frontline leadership. Sources said some members even threatened to boycott events attended by Govindan.
For the first time in Kerala’s electoral history, Trikaripur — a constituency once represented by CPM stalwarts E M S Namboodiripad and E K Nayanar — slipped from the party’s grasp, with the Congress wresting the seat from the CPM. CPM candidate V P P Mustafa lost to UDF’s Sandeep Varier. The CPM also lost the Udma assembly constituency to the Congress after 35 years.
Earlier, the CPM’s Kasaragod district committee had reportedly blamed the leadership for the party’s losses in the district. The area committee allegedly blamed Kannur district secretary K K Ragesh for the CPM’s decline in Payyanur and Trikaripur.