CPM attempting to sideline P Jayarajan, K K Shailaja, say Kannur district committee members

Kannur: Just a day after the Kannur district secretariat of the CPM openly blamed the abrasive public style of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and state secretary M V Govindan for the party’s electoral setbacks, the district committee meeting on Saturday took an even sharper turn, with members alleging that the leadership was deliberately trying to sideline party strongman P Jayarajan.

After the electoral rout, CPM state committee member P Jayarajan received overwhelming support, both online and offline, from party sympathisers calling for him to succeed M V Govindan.

The two-day district committee meeting follows Friday’s marathon district secretariat session, held from 10 am to 7 pm, where all 17 members reportedly spoke and delivered what insiders described as the most direct criticism of the leadership ever heard in Kannur.

At Saturday’s district committee meeting, members alleged that the leadership had not only attempted to politically isolate P Jayarajan, but had also quietly backed rebel candidates in key constituencies. District secretary K K Ragesh came under heavy criticism, with members pointing to setbacks including the loss of Munderi panchayat, his home turf.

District committee members also criticised the leadership for fielding Politburo member K K Shailaja in Peravoor, a constituency represented for three consecutive terms by Congress state president Sunny Joseph, with the intention of cutting her down politically.

Members maintained that the electoral rout was not caused by anti-incumbency or governance issues, but by public resentment towards the leadership style of Pinarayi Vijayan and M V Govindan, from their campaign rhetoric to their combative handling of the media. Pinarayi’s controversial campaign remark asking a supporter to “go home and ask” was also cited as having alienated sections of the electorate.

Members also did not take kindly to Ragesh saying Taliparamba was not a Left bastion after M V Govindan's wife, P K Shyamala, lost to rebel candidate T K Govindan. They said multiple names, including N Sukanya's, were discussed, but the list sent to the state leadership reportedly carried only the name of Shyamala. Members claimed not a single lower-level party unit had backed her candidature.

The leadership was also accused of failing to take rebel candidate V Kunhikrishnan seriously in Payyannur, where the party crashed from a nearly 50,000-vote victory margin to a defeat of over 7,000 votes. Members questioned how the Left had lost nearly 30,000 votes in Payyannur, its traditional stronghold, and invoked West Bengal as a warning of what happens when political mistakes go uncorrected.

One member noted that there was visible anxiety inside the party when Pinarayi Vijayan trailed for the first six rounds in Dharmadam. Calls were also raised for a constituency-wise probe into vote leakage in traditional CPM bastions such as Mattannur, Kalliasseri and Azhikode.