KANNUR: In an unexpected political development, former CPM Kannur district secretary P Sasi, who has been forced to keep away from the party post purportedly owing to reasons of health, has sent a letter to the state secretary of his party, Pinarayi Vijayan, seeking to relieve him of all his responsibilities in the party.
The letter faxed to the CPM state secretary on Saturday morning amounted to his resignation from the position of the district secretary and membership of the state committee, although resignation wasn't explicitly mentioned in the letter, as the CPM party constitution doesn't allow any one to resign.
Incidentally, the CPM leadership had set up a threemember commission to look into the allegations against Sasi.
P Sasi, when contacted by Express, also confirmed that he had sent a letter to the state secretary explaining his present plight and asking the latter to relieve him from party posts. He wanted to continue as an ordinary party worker, he said. He wasn't willing to divulge the details of the letter he sent to the state secretary.
The provocation for the extreme step taken by P Sasi was said to be the sarcastic comments made by Chief minister V S Achuthanandan about his health and the allegations made against him during his recent news conference in Thiruvananthapuram.
According to party sources, Sasi had expressed his anguish at "the trial through the media" launched by Chief minister V S Achuthanandan.
Sasi had reportedly stated in his letter that "VS is waging a personal vendetta against me through the media and that it is part of a conspiracy hatched by him." The letter had alleged that VS had been nursing a personal grudge against him ever since he refused to follow the his directions on the Kalluvatukkal liquor tragedy".
He said that VS had even tried to influence the commission set up to look into the issue.
The public comments of the Chief minister are more painful and humiliating than his physical illhealth or any disciplinary action of the party, Sasi said in the letter. At the same time, CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, said, while addressing a news conference in Thiruvananthapuram, that he wasn't aware of the letter faxed to him by Sasi.
He confirmed that a three-member commission had been formed by the party to look into the allegations against Sasi.