Around 50 Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] activists, including former area committee member, from Udayamperoor are set to join the Congress next week, District Congress Committee (DCC) president Muhammed Shiyas has said.
He was addressing a press conference here on Friday. CPI(M) former area committee member, State Committee member of the CITU-affiliated Matsyathozhilali Federation and former panchayat vice president M.L. Suresh were among the CPI(M) activists, including seven former local committee members, who announced their decision to join the Congress in the presence of Mr. Shiyas.
Mr. Shiyas said that issues that cropped up in the party in the wake of the last Assembly election led to the decision of the party activists to quit the CPI(M). This development in Udayamperoor, considered to be a stronghold of the CPI(M), would deal a big blow to the party in the district, he claimed.
“The Left ideology is no longer there in Kerala CPI(M) with the party being turned into an autocracy that does not tolerate asking questions,” said Mr. Suresh and others.
Mr. Shiyas said that they would accept the Congress membership at an event to be organised at Nadakkavu in Udayamperoor on October 11. Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan will inaugurate the function. DCC general secretary Raju P. Nair, Thripunithura Block Congress president P.C. Paul and vice president John Jacob were present at the press meet.
However, CPI(M) Thripunithura Area Committee secretary P. Vasudevan said that none of the three who addressed the press meet – Mr. Suresh, K. Manoj and N.T. Rajendran – were party members as their memberships were not renewed. “Rather than saying 50-odd activists, they should name those who are set to join the Congress in which case we can tell whether they were party members or not,” he said.
Mr. Vasudevan alleged that the three were in connivance with the Congress ever since the Parliament election and thereafter in the election to a cooperative bank. Their initial plan was to join the Communist Party of India (CPI) but that party also shut the door on them, he claimed.
Published - October 04, 2024 09:49 pm IST
