With the Parliament election around the corner, efforts by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] to bring back former Devikulam MLA S. Rajendran to the party are hitting a roadblock.
According to leaders, the party’s State leadership had called Mr. Rajendran to Thiruvananthapuram on January 24, talked with him, and demanded that he cooperate with the party. Based on the State leadership’s direction, CPI(M) Idukki district secretary C.V. Varghese had visited Mr. Rajendran in February to ensure that his party membership would be resumed. However, according to sources, a senior party leader in Munnar opposed the move to bring Mr. Rajendran back to the party and so Mr. Rajendran is now rethinking his decision to rejoin the party.
In January 2022, State secretariat of the CPI(M) had suspended Mr. Rajendran from the party’s primary membership for a year. Earlier, the district committee of the party had recommended action against him after a two-member inquiry commission found severe lapses on his part in the election campaign of the party candidate in the Devikulam constituency during the 2021 Assembly election. Following this, Mr. Rajendran was not associating with any of the party programmes.
