Thiruvananthapuram: With Kerala Assembly elections barely a month away, the ruling CPI(M) is grappling with an unusual wave of internal dissent across several district units, exposing rare cracks in what is widely seen as one of the state’s most tightly organised political machines.
From a ‘rebel convention’ in Palakkad led by expelled former MLA P. K. Sasi to simmering tensions involving senior leader G. Sudhakaran in Alappuzha and the recent resignation of A.V. Jayan in Wayanad, the party is facing multiple localised rebellions that threaten to complicate its campaign at a electorally crucial time.
The party’s Palakkad unit witnessed a ‘rebel convention’ on Thursday, attended by many dissident functionaries and inaugurated by former Shornur MLA Sasi, considered a popular leader in Palakkad district, but one who has been at odds with the party leadership for a while.
Soon after the convention, he was expelled from the party. But the bigger problem—the hundreds who attended the convention—cannot be easily resolved.
Nor is Palakkad the only unit that has rebelled. There is internal dissent, mostly out in the open now, in Alappuzha and Wayanad districts too. In Alappuzha, senior leader G. Sudhakarann has accused the party leadership of sidelining him, while in Wayanad, popular leader A.V. Jayan quit the party in January after a tussle with the district committee.
Talking to ThePrint, P. K. Asharaf, one of the organisers of the ‘rebel convention’ in Palakkad, said nearly 2,000 people, who held various roles in local committees across the district, had attended. Asharaf, earlier secretary in Palakkad’s Mannarkkad branch, had to leave the party before the local body polls after he and a few others accused the Mannarkkad Cooperative Bank’s president of corruption.
The leader, who has been holding multiple roles in the party for over 30 years, claims he has heard the Mannarkkad branch was dissolved after his resignation.
“The party has become something that just protects the top district leadership. Whoever raised their voice against wrongdoing was either expelled or sacked from their jobs (in party-affiliated enterprises). We don’t have any problems with the party as such or its state leadership; our problem is with the district committee,” Asharaf said, adding that they were willing to cooperate with the party if it acted against the district leadership.
Asharaf said their “collective” was not planning to defect to any other party but would decide which party to support later.
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Problems beyond
Former Shornur MLA Sasi’s problems with the party began in 2018 when a woman Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) leader accused him of sexual misconduct, following which he was suspended for six months. In 2024, the rift widened after he was charged with financial irregularities, which led to his demotion from the Palakkad district secretary’s post to a branch level functionary.
At the convention, Sasi launched a scathing attack against the party’s Palakkad unit, alleging it had indulged in corruption and illicit liquor sales.
“Using power, excesses have been carried out in Palakkad district. How many people have faced action? Many were brutally attacked and harassed. Should a Communist party allow this? Every month, there is some kind of collection (fundraising). There has never been a time when such collections happened like this,” he alleged.
Expelling Sasi from the district committee, the party refuted his allegations. “Sasi is one of the leaders who has got the most opportunities in the district. When leadership changes, the party’s day-to-day affairs might change too. If a person distances himself from the party because of this, they should come back once that emotion dies down,” senior district leader N. N. Krishnadas told the media Friday.
But Sasi is not the only thorn in the CPI(M)’s side.
The party’s relationship with senior leader G. Sudhakaran has been at break point, and Sudhakaran has been reluctant to renew his party membership. A former minister of PWD in the first Pinarayi cabinet, Sudhakaran is also a member of the state CPI(M) committee and the Alappuzha district committee.
Sudhakaran’s relationship with the party started going downhill after the party state secretary M. V. Govindan reportedly said “there is no consideration” when asked about Sudhakaran’s candidature in the Assembly.
Sudhakaran shared this video, along with videos of journalists laughing after Govindan’s answer. “Now, the state secretary himself, in response to a question at a press conference, used an inappropriate expression implying that I am not someone who deserves any consideration, and even laughed about it,” he said in a Facebook post
He said that since being removed from the state committee in 2022, he had been working only as a branch committee member in Alappuzha and that the district leadership has been ignoring him ever since.
On Friday, the party tried to pacify him, with the party’s central committee member C. S. Sujatha and other district functionaries meeting him.
ThePrint reached out to Alappuzha district secretary R. Nasar, who was unwilling to discuss the matter and just said, “Let’s see.” However, CPI(M) general secretary M. A. Baby Friday told the media that state secretary M. V. Govindan had spoken to Sudhakaran, while Baby himself had met him.
“When the party is facing an election, I feel he will act considering it. I don’t think there is more to the issue,” he said, adding that the party had heard him out and would always do so.
Similarly, the party’s Wayanad unit also witnessed an internal tussle after senior leader A. V. Jayan left the party, alleging internal attacks after he criticised state committee and district committee members C. K. Saseendran and K. Rafeeq. The resignation came shortly after the local body polls in January.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)