Inclusion of Kannur leader P Sasi in the CPM state committee has come as a major surprise to many. Sasi is back in the state committee after a long 11 years. Once a highly powerful leader in state politics, Sasi has been out of limelight for long.
Sasi was political secretary to the then chief minister E K Nayanar from 1996-2001. Later he became the CPM Kannur secretary. He was expelled from the party in 2011 after allegations of sexual misconduct. He later returned to the party after the court gave him a clean chit in the case. In 2018, he was reinstated into the party and given membership in Thalassery town branch committee. In 2019 he was inducted into the party’s Kannur district committee.
Justifying the decision to take back Sasi, to the media on Friday, state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said there was nothing wrong in including him in the state committee. “All the party did was give him the kind of consideration that is being given to everyone,” he said.
However many feel that Sasi’s comeback has something to do with the top leaders’ resentment towards another Kannur leader - P Jajayaran. The mass leader who became P Sasi’s successor as Kannur secretary later stepped down, and is now a state committee member. Though it was widely rumoured that he would at least now be included in the party secretariat, no such decision was taken.
“At a time when the CPM has been talking about women-friendly Kerala, such actions do not augur well for the party,” said a political commentator.