Thiruvananthapuram: Strange things are happening at the CPM's local-level meetings, which are being held in the run-up to the CPM State Conference in Kollam in February 2025.

At Kulasekharapuram North, Karunagapally, CPM state committee members K Rajagopal and K Somaprasad were locked up in the meeting hall by a section of CPM workers enraged by the proposed panel; the area committee meeting, scheduled the next day, had to be cancelled. At Kozhinjambara in Palakkad, CPM dissidents opened a new party office and convened a parallel local committee meeting. In Alappuzha, CPM area committee member Bipin C Babu left the CPM to join the BJP.

And on Sunday, December 1, in Thiruvananthapuram district, in a culmination of local factional tensions simmering for quite a long, the CPM's Mangalapuram area secretary Madhu Mullassery walked out of the area committee meeting and announced that he was "thinking of quitting the party". Mullassery has been Mangalapuram area secretary for six years and was poised to retain the post for a third term. Before, he was the local committee secretary for eight years. In short, an influential local CPM leader.

Mullassery blamed CPM's Thiruvananthapuram district secretary V Joy for his decision. "The indifference shown by Thiruvananthapuram district secretary V Joy is difficult to bear. Joy is doing all he can to fan the factional feud in the Mangalpuram unit. He is destroying the CPM unit in Mangalapuram," he told Manorama News. "I am thinking of quitting the party. I have resigned from all the posts," he added.

Mullassery also hurled a serious allegation at Joy, albeit indirectly. "Joy was happy when he lost the Atingal Lok Sabha elections," he said. According to CPM sources, he was insinuating that Joy was to blame for the huge, over 6 per cent, gains made by the BJP candidate V Muraleedharan. It was Congress candidate and eventual winner Adoor Prakash who saw his votes take a massive beating, over a 5 per cent drop. Joy's drop in vote share was 1.28 per cent.

Sources said Joy wanted Mullassery removed as the area secretary. Mullassery's rebellion was not surprising, as the area committee meeting held on Saturday, November 30, had witnessed CPM workers forming into groups and coming to near blows.

A section loyal to district secretary Joy had opposed Mullassery's pick as the local committee representative to the area committee. The faction close to Joy said Baiju Idavilakam's name had already been decided upon. However, according to them, Mullassery insisted on another Baiju: Baiju Lylbaag.

The Joy faction has levelled a slew of serious allegations against Mullassery. Most notable was that he had become inaccessible. A source said that participants at the area committee meeting alleged that Mullassery had close links with moneybags in the area. It was also said that Mullassery had still not placed the accounts of the construction of the local party office. Corruption was alleged.

It looks like, at this stage, Mullassery cannot be persuaded against leaving the party. Senior party leaders are now trying to hold back comrades considered loyal to Mullassery.