PATHANAMTHITTA/KOCHI: The CPM on Tuesday resorted to fire-fighting mode in Pathanamthitta following reports of altercations between its senior leaders during an internal meeting to discuss shortcomings in its election campaigning in the Lok Sabha constituency.
CPM central committee member TM Thomas Isaac is engaged in a prestigious fight in Pathanamthitta, where he is pitted against three-time MP Anto Antony of Congress and BJP’s Anil K Antony.
It is learnt that the district leadership was not satisfied with the intensity of the electioneering in Adoor assembly segment, and when it was pointed out during the meeting, chaired by senior party leader and minister V N Vasavan, held late on Monday night, an angry argument ensued. A senior trade union leader, who was in charge of the area, challenged the findings and said he would disassociate with the party’s election activities, if that was the district leadership’s stance.
However, CPM quickly resorted to downplay the incident with its senior district leaders -- Pathanamthitta district secretary K P Udayabhanu, former MLAs Raju Abraham, A Padmakumar and district committee member P B Harshakumar -- addressing a joint news conference and refuted the reports.
Rebuffing the reports, Udhayabhanu said, “Apparently, some reports said there were fisticuffs between our senior leaders. We are all sitting here together. There were no fisticuffs or arguments. These are creations of the media.”
Udhayabhanu also warned that the party would take legal action against the media for airing wrong news.
Later, speaking to reporters, Vasavan said there were some disagreements between the leaders on the proposed venue of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s rally in Pathanamthitta. “There are no other major disputes or arguments,” he said.
This is the second controversy that CPM is facing this week in Pathanamthitta. On Sunday, the UDF filed a complaint alleging violation of model code of conduct by CPM candidate Isaac. The complaint was that he was deploying the staff of Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-Disc) to offer various employment opportunities to youngsters. It is learnt that Isaac submitted his response to Pathanamthitta Collector S Premkrishnan on Tuesday.
A K Antony yet to decide on campaigning for Congress in Pathanamthitta
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress Working Committee leader A K Antony has reiterated that if he is healthy, he would travel to Pathanamthitta to campaign for UDF candidate Anto Antony. Incidentally, Antony’s elder son, Anil K Antony is the BJP candidate in Pathanamthitta.
All eyes are on Antony ever since Anil’s candidature was finalised in Pathanamthitta. Since then everyone wanted to know whether he would campaign there or not.
For the past two weeks or so, the veteran leader had been claiming that if he is keeping good health he wouldn’t mind travelling to Pathanamthitta to campaign for the Congress candidate. But leaders close to Antony told TNIE that he is unlikely to travel outside Thiruvananthapuram.
Speaking to reporters at Indira Bhavan after awarding the Thalekunnil Basheer Memorial Literary Award to writer George Onakkoor, Antony came out with serious criticism against Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that if he returns to power for the third time, it would be disastrous for the nation.
(With inputs from T’Puram)