The Kannur district secretariat and district committee meetings of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], the former on Monday and the latter on Tuesday, are seen as crucial amid moves by the party leadership to put a lid on reported resentment among senior leaders from the district, including former Minister E.P. Jayarajan.
The meetings are expected to chalk out plans for the party’s State, district, area, local, and branch conferences scheduled to be held ahead of the party congress slated on April next year.
Two-day meetings
The two-day meetings of the party’s district bodies are being held in the presence of CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and former party State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. M.V. Govindan, Local Self-Governments Minister; Mr. Jayarajan; and former Minister P.K. Sreemathy, are attending the district meetings.
Party sources said the branch conferences in the district were likely to be held in the second week of September, whereas the district meet was expected in December or January.
The meetings on Monday and Tuesday are being held against the backdrop of reports that senior leaders such as Mr. Jayarajan are miffed with the denial of seats for the Assembly election. Mr. Jayarajan’s announcement in March that he was quitting electoral politics was seen as an indication of uneasiness in the top rung of the party’s leadership in Kannur, a stronghold of the CPI(M).
Heated exchange
There was reportedly heated exchange between party leaders P. Jayarajan and K.P. Sahadevan in an earlier district secretariat meeting over the Karipur gold smuggling case. The State leadership had issued them strict warning.
