Two shown the door
Two key supporters of party veteran V.S. Achuthanandan during the height of polarisation in the State CPI(M) have been removed from the State committee in what the party leadership has termed complete erasure of factionalism.
Pirappancode Murali and C.K. Sadasivan have been shown the door even as Koliyakode Krishnan Nair has been retained and Gopi Kottamurickal, former Ernakulam district secretary, has been brought back into the State committee.
The announcement of the reconstituted State committee had its share of drama with Mr. Murali, former Thiruvananthapuram district secretary, demanding to know why he was dropped when Mr. Nair, aged 80 plus, was retained.
Party State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan replied that he was being removed as he was inactive at the local level. Mr. Sadasivan did not raise his voice against his removal from the committee.
The new faces in the committee include DYFI national president Mohammed Riyas and DYFI State secretary A.N. Shamseer, who had taken on the party general secretary Sitaram Yechury during the delegates’ session of the conference.
Both Mr. Kottamurickal and Rajya Sabha member K. Somaprasad who have found their way into the State committee are of the post-Emergency vintage and are compatriots of Mr. Balakrishnan from his SFI days.
The Achuthanandan faction is dead, but several of those who had been identified with faction have had to pay a heavy price over the past decade and more. Mr. Murali and Mr. Sadasivan are among them.
Announcing the list of State committee members, Mr. Balakrishnan said the party had rid itself of factionalism.
