PALAKKAD: The CPM is likely to initiate serious disciplinary action, including demotion or suspension, against state committee member and former Palakkad district secretary E N Suresh Babu following a complaint by a woman advocate alleging sexual misconduct, with the issue expected to come up before the party's state committee.
Suresh was removed from the district secretary post on Sunday, at the two-day extended district committee meeting held in Palakkad.
According to party sources, the complaint, submitted around two months ago, alleges that Suresh behaved inappropriately towards the lawyer at the CPM district committee office when she had arrived to attend an organisational conference. She has also alleged that she was subjected to persistent harassment over the phone for nearly a year. The complainant reportedly submitted digital evidence along with the complaint.
Though state secretary M V Govindan told the district committee that the leadership change was necessitated by "personal reasons", the decision followed the complaint and a preliminary inquiry conducted by the state leadership, sources said.
Sources also said politburo member A Vijayaraghavan and central committee member K S Saleekha reportedly interacted with the complainant and CPM leaders in Palakkad as part of the preliminary inquiry. The state leadership is understood to have found substance in the allegations, prompting discussions on further disciplinary action.
The complaint had reportedly reached the CPM leadership during the party's extended state conference in Kozhikode. The matter again came to the leadership's attention during discussions on organisational rectification at the extended district committee meetings in Palakkad and Malappuram, which were held simultaneously. While Govindan was in charge of the Palakkad meeting, Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan oversaw the discussions in Malappuram.
On the eve of the conclusion of the Palakkad district committee meeting, CPM state committee members from Palakkad were reportedly summoned to Malappuram for a meeting attended by Pinarayi and Govindan. According to party sources, Pinarayi informed the leaders about the digital evidence submitted with the complaint and conveyed the leadership's position that Suresh should step down as district secretary.
The leadership, however, chose not to cite the woman advocate's complaint as the stated reason for removing Suresh. Instead, factionalism and organisational failures in the Palakkad unit were highlighted when the decision was communicated to the district committee.
Factionalism figured prominently in the discussions at the extended district committee meeting, with delegates criticising the district leadership's handling of internal disputes. The leadership is understood to have concluded that Suresh had failed to resolve the factional differences and provide united leadership to the district organisation.
The decision to foreground organisational issues is also being viewed as an attempt to avoid projecting the leadership change solely as action over a sexual misconduct complaint. However, the removal as district secretary is unlikely to mark the end of the disciplinary process.
"Given the seriousness of the allegations and the digital evidence submitted by the complainant, the state leadership is expected to consider strong action against Suresh at its next meeting, as his issues have tarnished the party's image," sources said.
Meanwhile, Congress workers took out a protest march from the Palakkad DCC office to the Stadium bus stand on Monday, demanding that complaints allegedly submitted by several women against Suresh be handed over to the police for investigation. The protesters burnt him in effigy and, as a symbolic protest, tied his photograph to the leg of a rooster and released it towards the CPM office.