Protests are brewing within the Communist Party of India (CPI) against the decision of the party to nominate Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan for the third term from the Kanhangad constituency.
Ten branch secretaries boycotted a constituency convention to mark the campaigning of the Minister for the Assembly election on Thursday and intimated the district leadership their willingness to resign. The decision was announced by the branch secretaries of the Madikkai and Ambalathukkara local committees.
They alleged that by giving another chance to Mr. Chandrasekharan, the party was neglecting Bangalam Kunhikrishnan, the Left Democratic Front constituency convener, who was on top of the nomination list submitted by the district committee of the CPI.
‘Demand ignored’
Mr. Kunhikrishnan, who is also a State council member of the CPI, tendered his resignation from the post of the LDF constituency convener. He told The Hindu that though most of the party members supported him and suggested his candidature, their demand was ignored. Hence, it was inappropriate to continue as the constituency convener.
“I have forwarded my resignation to party secretary Kanam Rajendran. However, he asked me to reconsider my decision,” Mr. Kunhikrishnan said, adding that a final decision would be taken after further discussions.
He said protests were brewing within the LDF as deserving people were being denied the opportunity to contest.
The CPI has excluded Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar, Forest Minister K. Raju and Food and Civil Supplies Minister P. Thilothaman from the initial list published early this week for the Assembly elections. They had contested the Assembly polls three times.
