Alappuzha: An ongoing feud between two factions of the CPM in Kayamkulam led to the recent revelations on the 'fake degree certificate' submitted by expelled Students' Federation of India (SFI) leader Nikhil Thomas.
The two CPM factions cross swords with each other on Facebook pages named “Kayamkulam Viplavam” and “Chembada Kayamkulam”. The former supports Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian and the latter backs the party’s district secretary R Nazar.
The charge that Nikhil had gained admission to MCom at the MSM College without passing BCom was first raised on the Facebook page of Chembada Kayamkulam last January.
At the time of MCom admission, Nikhil had furnished a degree certificate purportedly from Kalinga University claiming that he used to be a student at the university between 2019 and 2021. Nikhil studied BCom at MSM College during the 2018-20 period, but he didn't clear the exam. In 2021, he enrolled for MCom in the same college with degree certificates issued by Kalinga University in 2019-21.
Later a complaint against Nikhil, who was the Alappuzha area secretary of the SFI, was submitted before the Alappuzha district committee. The complaint noted how could Nikhil study at two colleges under two different universities in the same period. Subsequently, the committee axed Nikhil from the post.
Kalinga University, which is based in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, has confirmed that Nikhil had submitted a fake certificate.
The Facebook post levelled severe criticism against the party’s district secretariat member K H Babujan who leads the Saji Cherian faction in Kayamkulam. The charge was that Babujan and Nikhil were responsible for SFI's shocking defeat in the student union election at the MSM College. The CPM's students' organisation was at the helm of the students' union at the college for the past 20 years.
Such is the rivalry in the faction-torn CPM units in Alappuzha that the other day party demoted PP Chitharanjan, MLA, and M Sathyapalan to the district committee from the district secretariat on Monday. Area committee member A Shanavas was sacked.
The coastal Kayamkulam town is in the Alappuzha district.
