Former Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan questioning the appointment of P Sasi as the political secretary to the chief minister has shocked CPM.

Jayarajan's move was unexpected, and neither him nor the party denied the news of the Kannur leader voicing his opinion at the state committee meeting.

Jayarajan on Wednesday merely said that he had not voted against the party decision. CPM did not officially deny the news of Jayarajan's opposition to Sasi's appointment.

Jayarajan, who highlighted Sasi's capabilities at a news conference, had echoed similar views at the state secretariat also. Though Jayarajan had no doubts about Sasi's abilities and excellence, he opposed appointing him in the key post in the chief minister's office, considering his past and functioning as the political secretary to the former chief minister E K Nayanar.

The Kannur leader also said that the party would understand his warning later.

The majority of state committee members did not expect such an open opposition from Jayarajan. The committee has been used to pass the state secretariat's decisions unanimously without questions. State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan did not hesitate to make public his displeasure over Jayarajan's intervention.

Sasi had preceded Jayarajan as the secretary of CPM's Kannur district committee. The party's state leadership has been of the view that the latter had earlier supported the allegations against Sasi. Both the leaders have been keeping a distance with each other ever since the allegations surfaced.

Sasi was expelled from the party on charges of sexual misconduct in 2011. It was also alleged that he had been the de facto chief minister during Nayanar's reign in 1996-2001.

The CPM re-inducted him after a Hosdurg court dismissed the charges against Sasi in 2018, eight years after a woman DYFI leader had accused him of sexual misconduct.

Though Sasi was re-inducted in 2018, he was drafted into the district committee after Jayarajan's term as the district secretary. A significant number of leaders in Kannur still remained opposed to Sasi, which prompted the party to decide against making him a delegate in the recently concluded 23rd CPM Congress.

CPM, however, included him in the state committee apparently as a prelude to appointing him to the chief minister's office.

Meanwhile, efforts were on to sideline Jayarajan even as the party 'rehabilitated' Sasi in a phased manner. The former was not considered when the state secretariat was formed, and he would most likely retire as a state committee member. This realisation might have made Jayarajan to voice his opposition to Sasi's appointment.

No differences in party: E P Jayarajan

There are no differences in the CPM over the appointment of P Sasi as the political secretary to the chief minister, LDF convener E P Jayarajan said.

Stating that Sasi was qualified to be the political secretary, Jayarajan said his appointment was unanimously approved by the state committee.

Referring to Sasi's expulsion from the party, the LDF convener said such disciplinary actions were meant to make the party members correct their mistakes, and not to end one's political career.

Jayarajan added that the party was not worried that Sasi might repeat the mistake.