Kannur, 01 September (H.S): CPI(M) Kannur district secretariat member T.I. Madhusoodanan has launched a sharp attack on V. Kunhikrishnan, dismissing his allegation that Pinarayi Vijayan’s recent speech contained threats.

Addressing a press conference at the CPI(M) Payyannur area committee office, Madhusoodanan said the party could not be blamed if leaders such as Kunhikrishnan felt intimidated on seeing Vijayan. Using a metaphor drawn from the Theyyam tradition, he warned that what had been witnessed so far was merely the ‘thottam’, or ritual prelude, and that the full political performance was yet to unfold.

Madhusoodanan also ridiculed the present position of the Payyannur MLA, describing him as a ‘circular communist’ left politically stranded. He questioned Kunhikrishnan’s claim that he was unaware even of the murder of CPI(M) activist Dhanaraj. He also maintained that Kunhikrishnan had never approached the party seeking any particular position.

The CPI(M) leaders said the party would make a concerted effort to regain every vote it had lost in the Payyannur Assembly constituency. As part of the corrective campaign, leaders and workers would visit every household, collect feedback from residents and introduce necessary organisational and political changes.

The party had decided to undertake the exercise because of Payyannur’s special significance in Kannur’s political landscape, they said.

Madhusoodanan acknowledged that the party might have reconsidered its choice of candidate had it anticipated the sustained campaign conducted against it. He alleged that statements made by Kunhikrishnan while remaining within the organisation had confused and influenced a section of party supporters and voters.

Payyannur municipal chairman Sarin Sasi and CPI(M) leaders Advocate P. Santhosh, K.K. Gangadharan and M. Raghavan were also present at the press conference.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman