Column | CPM quivers under ceaseless onslaught by opposition

The CPM is in a shock following a series of attacks from the in recent days over the developments around the gold smuggling case linked to the CMO and the drug money trail involving party chief's son. They lament that the chief minister was cheated by his office and the party secretary by his own household is apt.

There are now simultaneous calls for the resignations of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The two politburo members leading the party in Kerala are in a spot of bother, both personally and politically.

The CPM wonders how to overcome a situation in which both the government and the party are facing allegations at the same time. The CPM is having to face a public trial when the local body and Assembly elections are nearing.

The party and the LDF are rejecting the demand for the resignation of Pinarayi Vijayan as his influence in the party, the cabinet and the Left Front has not diminished.

State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has found acceptance in the party despite his health problems and the controversies created by his children.

But it is the strong chief minister’s once-powerful former principal secretary who has been arrested in connection with the gold smuggling case. And the son of the party secretary has been put behind bars in a money laundering case. Justifications being given within the party do not have to be accepted by the people.

Kodiyeri had just got some respite from the cases his eldest son Binoy was facing when his younger one Bineesh came under the investigations of the central agencies.

Kodiyeri explained to the party that the allegation that his son Bineesh had acquired the property in excess of his income was not true. He also claimed that only the properties in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur were in Bineesh's name.

When the drug case emerged against his youngest son, Kodiyeri said Bineesh did not even have the habit of smoking or drinking. He was careful not to reprimand his son publicly.

The CPM argues that the father should not be crucified for the fault of the adult son. But the CPM will have to face the question of whether the son abused the influence Kodiyeri has had at the administrative level first as the home and tourism minister and then as the secretary of the party leading the ruling alliance.

Kodiyeri will also have to take into account the fact that he is leading a party that constantly reminds members that it is not just them, even their families have to maintain purity in their personal lives.

The CPM is trying to ensure not to let the mess that Sivasankar finds himself in to affect the Chief Minister. After Sivasankar’s arrest, the CPM and the ministers have argued that neither the Chief Minister's office nor the official was tainted.

At the same time, the CPM’s Kerala and central leaderships have simultaneously come up with a new argument asking shouldn’t the Centre be held responsible for the fall of an IAS officer. 

As the CPM was trying to evade the Sivasankar controversy by pointing out that he was an official with no political links came Bineesh's arrest. He has been active in party forums, but some say Bineesh is a party member and others say he is not.

While the CPM has been lashing out at central investigating agencies, it has not yet come up with any blame against the ED for the two arrests. But, it has raised its voice against the media.

The double whammy the CPM finds itself in will provide more fuel to the opposition and BJP’s campaign against the government and the Left Front. 

There is a lot of excitement in the political landscape in anticipation that a lot of things are going to happen in the coming days. The crisis in Kerala will create a stir at the CPM Central Committee that will convene on Friday and Saturday.

Let the law take its own course: Yechury

New Delhi: The CPM has said that law should be allowed to take its own course in the case of Sivasankar and Bineesh. The party had no role in either case, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

“Sivasankar was suspended immediately when allegations were made against him. He is an IAS officer. It is up to the central government to decide what to do with him next. Bineesh is not a party member. Therefore, there is no need for the party to take a moral stand,” Yechury said.

Politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai said that Bineesh should be held accountable if he had committed a crime and that the CPM had nothing to do with it.