Veteran CPI leader R. Nallakannu, who had worked closely with N. Sankaraiah, paid his tributes to the latter on Wednesday. He was accompanied by the party’s State secretary R. Mutharasan.
They had worked together since college days. It was Sankaraiah, who organised students in Tirunelveli when Mahatma Gandhi gave the call for the Quit India movement. Subsequently, they were together in the communist party.
Both Nallakannu and Sankaraiah faced “conspiracy cases” launched by the British and Congress governments. Nallakannu was one of the accused in the Nellai conspiracy case in 1952 and awarded life sentence. Sankaraiah was the second accused in the Madurai conspiracy case in 1946 and was released only on 14, August 1947.
When the CPI faced a split over ideological differences, Nallakannu and leaders such as K. Balathandayutham, K.T.K. Thangamani, M. Kalyanasundaram and P. Manickam stayed with the CPI, while Sankaraiah left with leaders including P. Ramamurti, R. Umanath, M.R. Venkatraman and launched the CPI(M). Both Nallakannu and Sankaraiah maintained cordial relationship.
