Ernakulam: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) politburo member and former minister M A Baby said on Sunday that there was patriarchy within his party. He added that the CPM had no 'power group' and that its real power came from the hundreds of thousands of its activists.

“Patriarchy is also present in my party, which we are fighting against. It is part of this struggle now Brinda Karat and Subhasini Ali entered the politburo. Such changes should be made in every level of the party,” Baby said.

Regarding the sexual abuse cases involving actor-politician M Mukesh, Baby mentioned that the party has already communicated its stance on the accused’s resignation as the Kollam MLA. "The efforts of a woman actor brought the issues in the Malayalam film industry to the forefront. I salute her for that," he said.

M A Baby also stated that the media had falsely propagated that E P Jayarajan was unhappy with his ouster from the position of LDF convener.
On Saturday, the CPM State Secretariat removed party strongman Jayarajan as LDF convener and replaced him with former minister and MLA T P Ramakrishnan. CPM State Secretary M V Govindan cited two reasons for the decision: one, Jayarajan had certain limitations in performing as LDF convener and second, the controversies he created during the recent Lok Sabha elections. On the morning of the 18th poll day, Jayarajan dropped a bombshell and put the LDF in the dock by admitting that he met BJP’s Prakash Javedakar, which was an allegation raised by Sobha Surendran and Congress state chief K Sudhakaran.