Kanam Rajendran under fire for defending Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: Several of CPI leaders attending the Pathanamthitta district committee meeting called the party state secretary Kanam Rajendran a slave of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

A constituent of the Left Democratic Front government (LDF) of Kerala with four ministers in the cabinet and a Deputy Speaker, CPI has been upset that the second LDF government is being termed as the Pinarayi government instead of the LDF.

The party district conferences that are underway in all the districts have been vociferous with this criticism.

While speaking to IANS, a delegate in the party Pathanamthitta district conference said, "The CPI state secretary is now acting as a slave of Pinarayi Vijayan. CPI is a political party which had uphold its dignity under all the circumstances and we don't know why the state secretary is playing second fiddle to Chief Minister and supporting him in each and every move."

The second LDF government of Pinarayi Vijayan has drawn flak on several counts including the revelations of the gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh on the role played by Chief Minister and his family. The CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran has been the first person to defend the Chief Minister in that issue and in several other developing issues in the state.

It may be noted that former CPI leaders like late Veliyam Bhargavan and late C.K. Chandrappan while serving as state secretaries had strongly defended the party and stood up to the CPM on the Left front. The CPI cadres are sore that Kanam Rajendran who was also termed as powerful leader has been working as a 'B team of the CPM' and a main defender of the Chief Minister.

In the recent issue of CPM leader and former minister, M.M. Mani using derogatory words against opposition woman legislator, K.K. Rema, CPI national leader Annie Raja had come out against Mani. However, Kanam shot it down stating that the statement of Annie Raja's comments was not the opinion of the Kerala unit of the CPI. This has also come under scathing criticism from the CPI cadres who are attending the party conference.

CPI leaders also came out strongly against state health minister and CPM leader, Veena George, saying that the health system of Kerala which were recognised even by the global media during the previous LDF government were spoiled by the functioning of the present health minister. They said that Veena George was not even picking up the telephone calls of CPI leaders, and charged that a minister with phone phobia is unacceptable.

IANS with edits