Too Sonny For Party

Controversies involving the CPI(M) Kerala state secretary’s sons have put the party on the back foot

- Cithara Paul

Last week, during the district conferences of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) across Kerala, party general secretary Sitaram Yechury was called many names, including “a traitor”, who leaks party secrets to the media. Delegates said Yechury’s demand for the chief justice of India (CJI) to be impeached following the press conference by the four most senior judges was aimed at “toppling the left government in Kerala” (by instigating the CJI against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, while the Supreme Court is considering the Lavalin case involving him). Such is the mistrust between the general secretary and the unit in the only big state where the party matters. “We have proof on what the general secretary has been doing,” a senior central committee member from the state told THE WEEK. “You will see the results in Hyderabad.” The party congress to be held at Hyderabad in April will decide whether Yechury gets a second chance.

However, the general secretary might now be having a good laugh at the expense of the state unit. The reason is the controversies involving state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s sons. (As if that were not enough, Kerala speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, a CPI(M) leader, is making headlines for buying spectacles worth ₹49,900 and claiming ₹4.25 lakh as medical reimbursement in 15 months.)