Discord between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Communist Party of India (CPI) came to the fore in the Nedumangad municipality as they fielded separate candidates for the election to the post of vice-chairpersons on Monday.
The strife within the Left Democratic Front (LDF) became a blot on its unity, only a few hours after CPI(M)’s C.S. Sreeja was elected chairperson with the backing of councillors of both the parties.
Four-time CPI(M) councillor P. Harikesan Nair, who garnered 24 votes, was elected vice-chairman after contesting against CPI’s S. Raveendran who had the backing of only three CPI members, including himself. N. Fathima of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and Tara Jayakumar of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were the others who made failed attempts with eight and four votes respectively.
With the issue threatening to disrupt unity in the LDF, the CPI(M) State leadership intervened later in the day to restore peace by deciding to cede the post to the CPI. Following a meeting of the CPI(M) district secretariat attended by Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran, Mr. Harikesan Nair was directed to tender his resignation to pave way for the CPI to stake claim.
Ms. Sreeja, however, had a comfortable ride to the chairperson’s post by securing all 27 votes of the LDF councillors.
While NDA’s Vinodini won four votes, the UDF contingent decided to abstain from voting with none of the councillors being eligible to the post reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) women councillors.
CPI’s decision to field Mr. Raveendran, who had resigned from the CPI(M) six years ago, was the bone of contention within the LDF camp. While the senior CPI councillor was largely tipped to become the vice-chairman, the CPI(M) Nedumangad area committee raised objections and threatened to take over the post if the CPI did not field any of its other two councillors.
However, the parties decided to field their own nominees with both sides sticking to their positions. Following his victory, Mr. Harikesan Nair accused Mr. Raveendran of working against the interests of the CPI(M) ever since he had left the party to join the CPI.
