E.P. Jayarajan (file)
| Photo Credit: S. GOPAKUMAR
Left Democratic Front (LDF) convenor E.P. Jayarajan on Saturday (August 31, 2024) skipped the crucial State Committee meeting of the Communist Parrty of India (Marxist) in Thiruvananthapuram, triggering speculation that there might be a change at the apex level of the ruling front.
Mr. Jayarajan had attended the CPI(M) secretariat meeting on Friday. It was unclear whether the meeting decided on Mr. Jayarajan’s continuation in the top post. CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan is set to hold a press conference at 3.30 p.m. on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the political grapevine was abuzz with conjectures about who would replace Mr. Jayarajan. The media, quoting unnamed sources, bandied about the names of at least two senior CPI(M) leaders.
Criticism
Mr. Jayarajan had come under severe criticism from within the CPI(M) for confirming, in a somewhat ill-timed and arguably tactless manner on 2024 Lok Sabha election polling day, that he had a tete-a-tete with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Prakash Javadekar at his son’s house in 2023.
The statement appeared to dovetail with the Congress’ campaign narrative that the BJP and the CPI(M) were in cahoots in Kerala and that the unholy nexus would advantage the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), at least in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency.
The CPI(M) felt the statement was politically damaging. The admission suddenly threatened to draw an ideological and ethical equivalency between the party’s top brass and Congress leaders, including Padmaja Venugopal, who shifted allegiance to the BJP in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala.
Govindan drops a hint
On Friday, when asked whether Mr. Jayarajan was the subject of an internal party enquiry, Mr. Govindan replied cryptically: “There is no need for any enquiry. Everything is self-evident. The CPI(M) felt that party leaders could ill-afford to lose caution.”
Jayarajan’s reaction
Since then, Mr. Jayarajan has remained incommunicado. When accosted by television reporters outside his home at Keecheri in Kannur on Saturday morning, he said, “I will call you if I have anything to say.”
Notably, after casting his Lok Sabha election vote in Kannur, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said unambiguously that Mr. Jayarajan had lost guard by allowing a “dubious middleman whose sole concern was making money by hook or crook” to initiate the former’s meeting with Mr. Javadekar. He said there was “nothing wrong” with Mr. Jayarajan meeting a BJP politician. Mr. Vijayan said “forthrightness and affability” often put Mr. Jayarajan in a spot.
“Those who candidly rub shoulders with malefactors risk being judged by their association and optics. Such persons should ideally be kept at arm’s length,” he said. Mr Vijayan said he was well-versed in the ways of the “agent” and had kept his distance studiously.
AKG Centre meeting
In Thiruvananthapuram, top CPI(M) leaders, including polit bureau members, trooped into the AKG Centre to attend the crucial State committee meeting ahead of the party’s State conference in Kollam in 2025. They had to run the gauntlet of television news crews seeking answers about Mr. Jayarajan’s conspicuous absence.
Controversies
Mr. Jayarajan is no stranger to controversy. In 2016, he resigned from his post as Industries Minister in the first Pinarayi Vijayan government in the wake of accusations of nepotism in appointments. During the Lok Sabha campaign, the Congress sought to blight the LDF by accusing Mr. Jayarajan’s family of co-owning an Ayurveda resort in Kannur with a business group allied to former Union Minister for State and BJP’s Thiruvananthapuram candidate in 2024 Lok Sabha elections Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Both leaders have denied the Congress accusation.
UDF stance
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the CPI(M) could not absolve itself of guilt of striking a “clandestine symbiotic association” with the BJP away from the public eye by scapegoating Mr Jayarajan.
He said the “media drama” surrounding Mr. Jayarajan’s absence from the party’s State committee meeting provided the CPI(M) a decoy to distract public attention from whether the latter would disown party legislator and actor M. Mukesh, who is facing serious accusations of sexual exploitation and abuse.
‘Palace coups’
Congress leader Cherian Philip termed Mr. Jayarajan had joined a long line of party veterans overthrown in CPI(M)‘s “palace coups.”
In a statement, Mr. Philip noted that party stalwarts M.V. Raghavan and K.R. Gouri had met the same plight. He pointed out that Mr. Jayarajan had taken a bullet for the CPI(M).
Mr. Philip said Mr. Jayarajan was second only to Pinarayi Vijayan in seniority. The CPI(M)‘s decision to pass over Mr. Jayarajan for the post of the CPI(M) secretary had deeply wounded the LDF convenor. Mr. Jayarajan saw his juniors Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, M. Vijayaraghavan and M.V. Govindan elevated to the post. The CPI(M) elevated several leaders to the polit bureau, including M.A. Baby, Mr. Jayarajan’s junior, he added.
Mr. Philip, who was a CPI(M) fellow traveller for years and worked out of an office at the AKG Centre, said Mr. Jayarajan had credible ground to feel continuously sidelined for top positions in the CPI(M).