A bypolls in a small town in the party general secretary’s home district, Palakkad, should give sleepless nights to the CPI(M) in Kerala. A five-month-old rebel outfit has thrown the party off power for the first time in Shornur Municipality, formed 30 years ago.M R Murali, a 42-year-old local leader and a V S Achuthanandan loyalist, was thrown out of the party after he refused to quit as vice-chairman of the municipality. In a fiercely fought bypolls, the People’s Development Committee (PDC), Murali’s outfit, bagged eight out of the nine divisions in the council in which elections were held. The Congress had not fielded candidates and had supported Murali’s party. Now the CPI(M), which had 22 members in the House, has been reduced to a minority.“This is a fitting reply to the arrogance of the CPM leadership. People have jettisoned the CPI(M) which threw out the leaders who stood for intra-party democracy. Voters have realised that the CPI(M) has slipped into the grip of a wicked mafia,” said Murali.Murali, a former youth leader of the CPI(M), earned the wrath of the Pinarayi Vijayan faction when he aggressively campaigned for two infrastructure projects in the town. Murali wanted the municipality to blacklist a contractor who failed to complete a project. “The contractor who got the project was a benami for a leader of the rival (Vijayan) faction. All efforts to initiate action against the contractor fell flat as the party leadership stood by the contractor,” Murali had told The Indian Express.Murali backed a public meeting held in protest against the delay in the projects. The CPI(M) leadership was upset as the agitation was not authorised by the party. When asked to quit as vice-chairman, Murali did not budge. The CPI(M) sacked Murali in early July. His exit was followed by an exodus from the CPI(M) rank and file in the area. Murali, along with eight CPI(M) councillors who quit to join him, formed the PDC.“The success of the rebels is a temporary phenomenon. They had joined hands with the Congress to defeat the CPI(M). People would soon realise the political bankruptcy behind the rebel outfit. The CPI(M) would overcome the crisis,” said CPI(M) State Secretariat member V V Dakshinamoorthi.The defeat in Shornur, always a Communist bastion, is a matter of concern for the CPI(M) which has seen widespread dissidence in the state. Various CPI(M) rebel groups are now planning a state-level political forum.
