The CPI(M) district secretariat removed Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) chairman and former MLA P.K. Sasi from two more positions on Saturday.
Mr. Sasi, who faced disciplinary action after being involved in financial fraud, was removed from the posts of CITU district president and Chumattu Thozhilali Union president. Earlier, Mr. Sasi was demoted from the district committee to area committee.
CPI(M) district committee member P.N. Mohanan will become the new district president of the CITU. T.M. Sasi will be the new Chumattu Thozhilali Union president.
The party has left it to the State government to decide whether to retain Mr. Sasi as KTDC chairman.
Mr. Sasi faced disciplinary actions following the finding of an inquiry commission that he was directly involved in financial misappropriation. Although the party district committee had asked him to quit KTDC chairmanship and CITU presidentship, he refused to oblige.
In 2018, Mr. Sasi was suspended from the party for six months on charges of sexually harassing a woman. Although he returned to the party after two years, he faced disciplinary action yet again for causing divisionism within the party.
The CPI(M) district secretariat meet found fault with State committee member and former MP N.N. Krishnadas for making unsavoury comments in public. Mr. Krishnadas was criticised for his remarks against mediapersons equating them with “the dogs in front of a butcher shop”. He also faced criticism for his statement rejecting the “blue trolley” dispute as unhealthy for an election.
The meeting criticised him for not correcting his stand in spite of the party leadership standing against it. The meeting observed that Mr. Krishnadas’s stand had adversely affected the party’s prospects in the recently held Assembly byelection in Palakkad.
Party leaders were of the opinion that Mr. Krishnadas’s stand had validated the United Democratic Front (UDF) allegations that there was a split within the CPI(M) over how to fight the election.
The party observed that fielding Congress defector P. Sarin against UDF candidate Rahul Mamkootathil in Palakkad was a fair move.
The CPI(M) evaluated that the party did not lose its votes, and it was the BJP that helped the Congress in some areas.
Published – December 21, 2024 09:19 pm IST