The State committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is understood to have decided to expel former party Kannur district secretary P. Sasi over allegations of sexual misconduct.
The CPI(M) committee reportedly took the decision overturning the party State secretariat's proposal for suspending Mr. Sasi from the primary membership of the party for one year. According to CPI(M) sources, the secretariat's proposal met with strong resistance from a large number of State committee members, including secretaries of various party district committees, who felt that the CPI(M) had suffered a severe loss of face following the alleged bid to protect to Mr. Sasi and let him get away with a lighter punishment.
The issue had figured in the party State secretariat meeting, attended by CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, on Friday. The secretariat decision was to suspend Mr. Sasi for one year. However, when the proposal was placed before the State committee, several members reacted sharply to it and pointed out that any further attempt to shield Mr. Sasi would land the party in a greater credibility crisis.
Mr. Sasi came under the party scanner following allegations of sexual misbehaviour raised by a district leader of the DYFI in Kannur. A CPI(M) State committee member too had reportedly complained to party State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan about a similar experience of his close kin.
The Kannur district secretariat had removed Mr. Sasi as CPI(M) Kannur district secretary on December 13, 2010, and demoted him to the Peralassery Keezhara branch committee citing ‘health reasons'. When the issue came up before the CPI(M) State secretariat on December 31, 2010, the then Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan demanded his expulsion from the party. However, his demand was turned down. With the issue refusing to die down, the party secretariat constituted a committee comprising party Central committee members Vaikom Viswan and A. Vijayaraghavan on February 3, 2010, to look into the allegations.
The whole issue acquired a new dimension with Mr. Sasi writing a letter to Mr. Vijayan accusing Mr. Achuthanandan of trying to settle scores with him for his having stood, as political secretary to the then Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar, in the way of Mr. Achuthanandan's bid to influence Justice Mohan Kumar Commission, which had inquired into the Kalluvathukkal liquor tragedy. Mr. Achuthanandan had stoutly denied the charge and declared in public that people who misbehaved with women would have no place in the party.
The State CPI(M) had initially taken the stand that there was no charge of sexual misconduct against Mr. Sasi and then later claimed that it was looking into the allegations against him. However, there were many in the party like former Health Minister and AIDWA leader P.K. Sreemathy who were openly critical of the party stand. The CPI(M) Polit Bureau and Central committee too were not happy with the pace of inquiry against Mr. Sasi, but had left it to the State leadership to take a decision in the matter.
