CPI(M) publicly cautions Krishnadas for not presenting a united face during the Palakkad Assembly bypoll campaign

CPI(M) issues public warning to member for diverging from official line during Palakkad bypoll campaign.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has issued a “public warning” to its State committee member, N.N. Krishnadas, for expressing a divergence from the official line and failing to present a united face during the campaign phase of the Assembly bypoll in Palakkad.

Addressing a press conference after chairing the party’s State committee meeting here, CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan said the party found that Mr. Krishnadas’s statements precipitated an impression that the leadership was divided about how the Left Democratic Front (LDF) conducted its by-poll campaign in Palakkad.

Mr. Krishnadas had caused a stir by suggesting that LDF campaigners should focus on spotlighting pressing issues concerning constituents and not chase wispy controversies such as Congress workers allegedly carting around black money in blue-coloured trolley bags for unaccounted election spending. Mr. Krishnadas had also allegedly disparaged the media for creating the impression that CPI(M) rank and file in Palakkad were disgruntled about nominating Congress defector P. Sarin as the LDF’s election standard bearer.]

Mr. Govindan said the State committee felt that Mr. Krishnadas’s public statements warranted a public warning. The CPI(M) has counselled him to be more heedful in his averments, especially in a sensitive political climate. 

He said the party’s warning to Mr. Krishnadas was more in the nature of a counsel than a public censure. “A public censure is a more serious step and precursor to removal from party committees, suspension and finally dismissal,” he added. 

Mr. Govindan said the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) was creating an unreasonable fuss about the Kerala Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

He said the UDF’s gambit was to precipitate a sense of insecurity in the vast settler-farmer community and cultivate a bleak view of the government ahead of the local body polls.