Kannur: The CPM has closed ranks around Payyannur MLA TI Madhusoodanan and moved decisively against whistleblower and district committee member V Kunhikrishnan, signalling its intent to assert control on the streets as well as over the narrative.
The CPM’s Kannur district secretariat -- the highest decision-making body in the district -- met on Sunday and decided to expel Kunhikrishnan from the party. 

“The meeting that started at 3 pm lasted for three hours. No one spoke in support of him. They were miffed that he raked up an issue in public that was inquired into and settled,” said a source.

The decision of the district secretariat would be reported to the District Committee on Monday, after which it would be officially announced by the party’s district secretary, KK Ragesh.

CPM state secretary MV Govindan and state secretariat member MV Jayarajan attended the district secretariat meeting.

The statements issued by senior party leaders over Saturday and Sunday left little doubt that the CPM is preparing to sever all ties with him. Kunhikrishnan, who has been associated with the party for around five decades, went public with allegations of fund misappropriation against the Payyannur MLA, putting the leadership on the defensive as the CPM is aiming for a third consecutive term in Kerala. When he first raised the allegations within the party’s internal forums, he was removed as CPM’s Payyannur Area Secretary. He was later inducted into the party’s district committee after M V Govindan took over as state secretary. Within the party, the whisper was that Kunhikrishnan had been given a long rope because he was believed to possess solid evidence to back his allegations against Madhusoodanan. 

Sunday morning, Veteran CPM leader M V Jayarajan said Kunhikrishanan was trying to destroy the party in the name of correction. “He has become the handle of the axe for the party’s enemies,” said Jayarajan, a member of CPM's state secretariat, the highest decision-making body of the party in the state. 

CPM State Secretary MV Govindan on Sunday challenged those raising allegations to approach the police, asserting that the issue was an internal party matter and that no money had been lost or misappropriated from any fund. 

Kunhikrishnan's conduct, seeking to denigrate the party before the public, is unacceptable to the party under any circumstances, said Kannur District Secretary KK Ragesh.

After nearly five years of trying within the party to fix accountability over alleged financial misappropriation in three funds, Kunhikrishnan came out in public calling for the party workers to correct the leadership.

He alleged financial misappropriation in the money raised to support the family of slain CPM worker C V Dhanaraj (38), hacked to death allegedly by RSS-BJP workers in his house in Ramanthali grama panchayat on July 11, 2016; money raised to build CPM’s Payyannur Area Committee Office in 2016; and the Assembly election fund in 2021.

Payyannur MLA TI Madhusoodanan is central to the three fund-raising activities. In the first two instances, he was the Payyannur Area Secretary, and in the third instance, he was the candidate, and Kunhikrishnan alleged that a counterfeit receipt book was printed to collect money from donors, keeping the party in the dark.

Senior leaders insisted there was no embezzlement and framed Kunhikrishnan’s actions as an attempt to undermine the party from within.

CPM State Secretary MV Govindan challenged those raising allegations to approach the police, asserting that the issue was an internal party matter and that no money had been lost from the fund. “There is no need for interference in internal party affairs. If anyone has a complaint, they are free to file it with the police,” he said, adding that the State Committee would intervene only if required.

Veteran leader MV Jayarajan accused Kunhikrishnan of trying to “destroy the party in the name of correcting it” by taking his grievances public. He said the party’s internal inquiry had found only a delay in the presentation of accounts, not financial misappropriation, and that corrective action had already been taken. “His allegations do not qualify as financial misappropriation,” Jayarajan said, categorically denying misuse of the Martyrs’ Fund (money raised for Dhanraj’s family). He also said that the Congress’s march to the MLA’s office was unacceptable and wrong.

At the local level, the party struck a more combative note. CPM Payyannur Area Secretary P Santhosh described recent attacks on the Congress and BJP workers  -- demanding Madhusoodanan’s resignation -- as “sample fireworks”, remarks that quickly circulated on social media. He said attempts to insult the MLA or the party would not be “watched with folded arms”. “What was seen yesterday was just sample fireworks,” he said after the party held a show-of-strength march in Payyannur town.

CPM social media handles openly celebrated the assault of opposition party workers in Payyannur town. The Congress and the BJP took out separate protest marches in the town. Congress workers were demanding the MLA’s resignation, and the BJP was demanding a vigilance inquiry into the party’s internal funds.

Both protesters were assaulted on the road in the presence of police officers by CPM workers who also took out a march in the town expressing solidarity with the MLA. “The Congress should have restricted its reaction to a statement instead of taking out a protest march in the town. Now they have made it political, the CPM will rally behind the MLA, even those who are against him within the party,” said a branch committee secretary.

To be sure, the CPM’s march in Payyannur was led by the area secretary Santhosh. The march was also joined by a DYFI leader from Kunhikrishnan’s village of Vellur, and considered to be in the whistleblower’s camp.

Several CPM supporters shared the videos of the party workers assaulting Congress and BJP protesters, and with words of celebration. One Instagram post featured a red card with the message: “The party in Payyannur has given a small warning to those who came to attack the MLA’s office after listening to those who left the party and challenged it. No one will fly above the red flag in Payyannur.”

Payyannur is the strongest bastion of the CPM in Kerala. It has several cooperative hospitals, banks and restaurants in the town, with almost all trade union associations affiliated with the CPM’s CITU. An old intelligence report said that the CPM can mobilise 6,000 people in Payyannur town in six minutes. MV Jayarajan on Sunday boasted that there would be no one behind Kunhikrishnan. On Friday and Saturday, several posters mocking Kunhikrishnan popped up across Payyannur town.

But on Sunday, a banner was put up in Kara, a division in Payyannur where the LDF lost to a rebel candidate miserably in the local body election. The banner had the photos of Kunhikrishan and VS Achuthanandan, exhorting him to march ahead and that he is on the right path.

Rebel DYFI leader C Vaishak contested in Kara and amassed 63% vote share. The LDF’s Congress (Secular) candidate P Jayan, came third with just 13% vote share. IUML came second but lagged behind Vaishak by 458 votes.

The CPM dismissed the rebellion as confined to one division and pointed out that LDF won 36 divisions in Payyannur, up from 34 in 2020.

The branch secretary quoted above said at least five senior leaders were backing Kunhikrishnan and that they were under the party’s watch. “They are leaders, but not influential ones. No one can defeat the CPM in Payyannur because its supporters and sympathisers depend on the party for their livelihood through cooperative societies. That is why they are trying to force the party to drop Madhusoodanan as its candidate,” he said.

However, considering the party’s pushback over the past two days, it is clear that Madhusoodanan will remain the face of the CPM’s defiance. “It may hurt the party elsewhere in Kerala. But that is the price the party will have to pay,” said the branch secretary, who described himself as an ardent admirer of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and MLA TI Madhusoodanan.