Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Karayi Rajan resigned as president of the district panchayat on Saturday following his inability to carry out his duties in the wake of the High Court’s recent refusal to relax the CBI court’s bar on his entry into the district as a condition for granting bail in the Muhammad Fasal murder case.
Mr. Rajan, an accused in the case, announced his decision to step down on his Facebook page. He said he was voluntarily resigning from the post owing to his inability to carry out his work as a public servant because of a political witch-hunt against him.
The High Court refused to allow the pleas of Mr. Rajan and co-accused Karayi Chandrashekharan, now chairman of the Thalassery municipality, against the special CBI court's order barring them from entering the district as a condition for granting them bail in the Fasal murder case. He said he was a victim of political vendetta though he had contested in the election with the court’s permission and been elected with a huge margin.
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Both Mr. Rajan and Mr. Chandrashekharan had contested the election and won with huge margins when the bar on their entry into the district was in force. They visited the district with the court's permission to file their nominations and to cast votes and for attending meetings of the panchayat and municipality respectively for the election of president and chairman. Their resignation had been in the grapevine following the High Court's refusal of their pleas. The decision to replace Mr. Rajan as panchayat president was taken at the party district committee meeting held here on Saturday.
A press release issued on behalf of the CPI(M) district committee said the decision regarding Mr. Rajan’s resignation was taken at the meeting to ensure the smooth conduct of the day-to-day activities of the panchayat. The decision on Mr. Chandrashekharan would be taken by the party area committee at Thalassery, it said.
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The meeting held in the presence of party State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was also attended by P.K. Sreemathi, MP, and M.V. Jayarajan.