Party before Pinarayi: CPM
As part of a course correction following the humiliating performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls, where it bagged just one of the 20 seats in Kerala, the CPI(M) has reportedly decided to restore the party’s supremacy over Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s government.
For over a decade, the party played second fiddle to Pinarayi and followed the Chinese model of governance where all powers vested with its president. After the defeat, the party has reportedly decided to go back to its earlier model where the party’s state secretariat would be supreme.
This effectively means that
Pinarayi’s wings could be clipped and he will have to get the party’s approval on major decisions.
At the state secretariat meeting, ‘Pinarayi and his 19 shadows’, a reference to his voiceless ministers, came under fire from former ministers, who had been sidelined by the chief minister.
Sources said that past meetings Pinarayi used to hit back at his critics but this time he remained a mute spectator as criticisms were hurled at him.
The party’s general secretary MV Govindan, known for having a glib tongue, avoided answering pointed questions on the CM’s style of functioning.
The party came in for further criticism Saturday when a leaked report said that three of its workers, serving life sentences for murdering former party leader TP Chandrasekharan, may be out of jail following ‘recommendations’ of the jail superintendent.
“The CPM has not learnt its lessons even after this defeat. They are willing to go out of their way to protect criminals in the party,” said leader of opposition VD Satheesan.