Selvaraj to join CPI(M) dissidents

Janakeeya Vikasana Samithi leader M.R. Murali inaugurates convention

NEW STAND: R. Selvaraj, who resigned from the CPI(M), addressing a convention organised at Neyyattinkara, near Thiruvananthapuram, on Thursday. Photo: S. Mahinsha

The former MLA R. Selvaraj, who resigned from the primary membership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has announced his resolve to join the Janakeeya Vikasana Samithi, a collective of CPI(M) dissidents.

Addressing a convention of his supporters at Neyyattinkara on Thursday evening, Mr. Selvaraj said that people from all walks of life and those professing diverse political and religious affiliations could join the collective to take forward the development and welfare initiatives he had launched in the constituency and the neighbouring Parassala constituency during his terms as the MLA.

A message to party

He said through his resignation he intended to send a message to the CPI(M) Party Congress, scheduled to be held in Kozhikode soon, on the current state of the organisation. His decision to quit the party was not spontaneous. It had nothing to do with the Piravom by-election. The repeated efforts to apprise the leadership of the harassment meted out to him during the past few years, and the waywardness of the district leadership fell on deaf ears, he said.

Be it CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan or Opposition Leader V.S. Achuthanandan, none bothered to redress his grievances. There was even a desgn to eliminate his family. This prompted him to quit the party he joined in 1968, he said.

He dared the CPI(M) leadership to prove the charges levelled against him with documentary evidence. The leadership would have to prove it in the court, Mr. Selvaraj said. While accusing him of amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, the only asset he had was a Rs.18 lakh debt he owed to various banks, Mr. Selvaraj said.

Committee formed

He also announced the formation of an executive committee comprising Perumgadavila block panchayat member G. Balakrishna Pillai and Parassala panchayat member Y. Ambrose who left their positions in support his resignation.

Shoranur municipal chairman and JVS leader M.R. Murali who inaugurated the convention, warned against the attempts of the CPI(M) to intimidate people who quit the party.

The CPI(M) could not deny freedom to any individual to pursue the political line of their choice. One need not be part of any front. He accused the CPI(M) of protecting the neo-rich.