Alappuzha (Kerala) |Former CPI(M) leader and Independent MLA G Sudhakaran on Monday called CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan the "real betrayer of the working class" and demanded his immediate removal after the party's electoral setbacks.
Sudhakaran was responding to reporters' questions on Govindan's recent remarks that those who had left the CPI(M) were "class betrayers" and could return to the party after correcting their mistakes.
Govindan's comments came after senior CPI(M) leader M V Jayarajan, in an interview, acknowledged that the party had made mistakes in candidate selection in some constituencies and said those who had left the party could return after rectifying their mistakes.
Sudhakaran said Jayarajan had made those remarks in the context of rebel candidates who won from Payyannur and Taliparamba Assembly constituencies.
"Even then, the party secretary chose to target me," he said.
"Govindan doesn't know what 'class betrayal' means or what class is. He thinks he is a literary person because of the baseless label given to him by the media," Sudhakaran alleged.
He said Govindan was unfit to continue as the CPI(M) state secretary.
"My opinion is that he should either resign from the post or the party should remove him," Sudhakaran said.
Sudhakaan said that despite a decline in the party's values, lakhs of people still loved the CPI(M).
"Govindan is occupying the top post but is working against the party. His intention is to destroy the party," he alleged.
Referring to the Assembly election results, Sudhakaran said the UDF had won five seats in Govindan's home district of Kannur, but the CPI(M) leader had shown no concern over it.
He rejected Govindan's allegation that he was a "class betrayer", saying he had never betrayed the working class or farmers.
"The working class and farmers are the CPI(M)'s class. Anyone who pleases the capitalist, imperialist or bourgeois class against the interests of workers is the real class betrayer. Theoretically and practically, Govindan is the class betrayer. He has betrayed the working class," Sudhakaran alleged.
He said he had neither been expelled from the CPI(M) nor resigned from it, but had simply chosen not to renew his party membership.
"The party constitution itself allows a member to leave the party. I did not cite any political reason for leaving. I simply chose not to renew my membership and the party accepted it. How does that become class betrayal?" he asked.
Sudhakaran said he had never spoken against the party while leaving it.
"I joined the party during the days of A K Gopalan and E M S Namboodiripad. Govindan was not even in the party then. Until the very end, I never uttered a word against him," he said.
He also criticised Govindan's leadership, alleging that the CPI(M) had failed to recover electorally under his stewardship and had been reduced to winning just one Lok Sabha seat in Kerala.
"If the Congress is a 'muddy stream', as some claim, how did the CPI(M) and CPI win four Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu? They also won a seat in Rajasthan with Congress support. In Kerala, the party managed to win only one seat on its own strength. It is Govindan who reduced the party to this position," he alleged.
Sudhakaran said he had not joined any political party after leaving the CPI(M) and remained an Independent MLA.
"I am neither with the LDF nor the UDF. But if the Chief Minister brings good measures for the people, I will support them," he said.
Dismissing speculation about the emergence of a new faction within the CPI(M) led by M A Baby and K N Balagopal, Sudhakaran said he had no knowledge of any such development.
He said that Baby would naturally be pained by the party's present situation in Kerala.
"He is the party's national general secretary. He has not conveyed any such concern to me personally, but it would be only natural. As the party's national general secretary, he is in a powerful position. Let him examine whether what I am saying is right," he said.
He alleged that Govindan lacked the capability, ideological clarity and understanding required to lead the party.
"He cannot correct himself. Since becoming state secretary, he has not brought any revival to the party. Is that what a party secretary should be?" Sudhakaran asked.
