Turbulence in Kerala CPI over poll debacle

After clamping down on three senior functionaries for the humiliating defeat its candidate suffered in Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, turbulence continued in Kerala CPI with two of them resenting the disciplinary action against them.
Reacting sharply against his removal as district secretary, Venjaramood Sasi charged the state leadership with singling out a few for the "flawed selection of candidate" for the seat.
Another senior leader P Ramachandran Nair, demoted from state executive to the district council, resented the manner in which the leadership proceeded on the matter and said he would be appealing to the party Control Commission against the action.

The demotion of three leaders, including national council member C Divakaran, was based on the report of an internal inquiry panel, which found them responsible for the party nominee Bennet Abrham getting relegated to the third position with Congress's Shashi Tharoor securing a second consecutive victory and BJP's O Rajagopal ending up as the runner-up.
The party had fixed responsibility on these three leaders for "flawed selection of the candidate" which it beleived was prime factor for the humiliation at the hustings.
Sasi, who had already hinted at leaving the party, told reporters today that the entire state secretariat should have resigned owning responsbility for the candidate selection instead of cracking whip on a select few.

"The party state secretary Panniyan Raveendran and state secretariat as a whole are responsible. Now, this disciplinary action is a ploy to hoodwink the people," he told reporters.

Raveendran declined to respond to outbursts against him holding that he had nothing more to say than what he had already communicated to the media after state council meeting.
Meanwhile, party General Secretary Sudhakar Reddy said in Delhi that the national leadership would discuss the Kerala developments at the next national executive meet.
Bennet Abraham was pushed to third position in the poll. It came as all the more severe to the LDF in general and CPI in particular since the BJP contestant finished a close second in the keenly watched contest.

After a thorough discussion, the party leadership made an open admission that a major reason for the defeat of its candidate was flawed choice of contestant in the prestigious seat but stoutly refuted the charge that there were irregularities in sourcing campaign funds.