Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader P. Jayarajan, who is charting his own course in the party and drawing veiled flak from the party establishment in the State, has reiterated his stand that Anthoor municipal chairperson P.K. Shyamala erred on the issue of delay in granting required permission to the convention centre built by NRI investor Sajan Parayil at Bakkalam.
Mr. Jayarajan repeated his stand in an interview to Samakalika Malayalam , a Malayalam weekly.
At a public meeting held at Mangattuparamba here on June 22 to explain the party’s stand on the issue four days after Sajan ended his life allegedly under strain caused by the municipal authorities’ denial of the permits to the convention centre, he had stated that Ms. Shyamala had failed in controlling municipal officials for granting the permits.
Though the State leadership of the party including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan have since then exonerated Ms. Shyamala, who is wife of the party Central committee member M.V. Govindan, Mr. Jayarajan is seen as sticking to his position that lends credence to the allegation of Sajan’s family that Ms. Shyamala was responsible for denying the permits.
The online edition of the weekly quoted him as saying that the municipal authorities had served notice citing violation of building rules in the convention centre.
“Notice was also served for the demolition of the building. At that stage, they [the builders] submitted a complaint to the Minister. The Minister directed the Superintending Engineer of the Local Self-Government Department in Kozhikode to examine the issue. When that effort had failed, [Sajan] came to meet me as the party’s district secretary,” he was quoted as saying.
Violations
He also said that Sajan had submitted another request for the permits after rectifying the violations as per the report of the joint inspection led by the District Town Planner. He said that he was saddened by Sajan’s suicide caused by the strain from continuing delay in granting the permits.
As the municipal chairperson, Ms. Shyamala, who is also district committee member of the party, had responsibility to intervene in such issues and she had failed in delivering that responsibility, Mr. Jayarajan said in the interview.
The suicide of Sajan, who was also a sympathiser of the CPI(M), has triggered protests by Opposition parties here. There are also indications that Mr. Jayarajan is not alone within the CPI(M) in voicing his dissenting note on the Anthoor issue.
