And at a crucial time when the tiff between Achuthanandan and Vijayan took a turn for the worse, Sudhakaran switched his loyalties and became a loyal Vijayan supporter, but of late there appears to be some rift between them and hence the outcome of the party probe could well turn out to be crucial.
Photo: IANS
A two-member committee will decide the fate of the top CPI-M party leader and former State Minister G. Sudhakaran.
The party’s state committee in a meeting held here last week commissioned top party veterans Elamaram Kareem, Rajya Sabha MP, and his party colleague K.J. Thomas to see if there was any laxity on the part of Sudhakaran in leading the Assembly election campaign at his home turf in Alappuzha district.
The two are expected to take stock of this later in the week when they will meet up with a cross-section of their party leaders and workers.
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Sudhakaran was not given a seat to contest in the April 6 Assembly polls and he went hammer and tongs against what he claims to be a section in the party which celebrated, hearing the news that he was not given a seat.
For over a decade now, Sudhakaran was the last word in the district, and in that process, he antagonized a few senior leaders like his former Ministerial colleague Thomas Issac, present State Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian, and Alappuzha CPI-M Lok Sabha member A.M. Ariff, who it appears have now joined together, sources said.
At the Alappuzha district committee meeting, a huge majority of the committee members welcomed the probe, while Sudhakaran who was present remained tight-lipped.
Sudhakaran, who handled the State Public Works Department portfolio during Pinarayi Vijayan’s first term ( 2016-21) and the Cooperation portfolio in the V.S. Achuthanandan government (2006-11), is known for his razor-sharp tongue, and for long he was a confidant of Achuthanandan.
And at a crucial time when the tiff between Achuthanandan and Vijayan took a turn for the worse, Sudhakaran switched his loyalties and became a loyal Vijayan supporter, but of late there appears to be some rift between them and hence the outcome of the party probe could well turn out to be crucial.
Meanwhile, the party has also decided to look into the defeat of their candidate at Tripunithura in Ernakulam district, after its firebrand youth icon M. Swaraj lost to Congress veteran K. Babu.
Similar probes within the party will take place at Pala, where new ally — Kerala Congress (Mani) chairman Jose K. Mani, suffered a shocking defeat.
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