The ruling CPI-M in Kerala seems to be divided over the appointment of P.Sasi, who was expelled from the party for misbehaving with a woman in 2011, as the political secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan with veteran party leader P.Jayarajan firing the first salvo against the move.
Jayarajan, one of the stalwarts in Kannur, said that such appointments should be made cautiously and urged for a reconsideration of the decision saying chances of the mistake being repeated cannot be ruled out.
With this appointment, Sasi who also hails from the Kannur region, appears to have regained his position after being kept out of the party and posts since 2011.
After getting a clean chit from a court in 2018, he has been getting back to the top and with this, he has returned to his old post as political secretary to CM, he once held when E.K.Nayanar was the Chief Minister in 1996-2001.
Sasi replaces Dineshan Puthelethu, who was promoted to the party state secretariat and has now been given the full charge of the party organ- Deshabhimani.
Justifying the Chief Minister's decision, another new appointee E.P.Jayarajan, who was given the post of Left Democratic Front convenor said there was nothing wrong in the appointment of Sasi and there is nothing that disqualifies him.
"The decision was taken after due deliberations and then it was cleared. Humans are fallible and who has not made mistakes? If a person is kept out of the party, it doesn't mean that it's going to be lifelong. There is nothing wrong in the new post given to Sasi," said Jayarajan.
P.Jayarajan is a former legislator and also held the post of Kannur CPI-M district secretary and ever since he lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Vadakara constituency in Kozhikode district, his graph in the party has been sliding down.
When many thought P.Jayarajan would be given a ticket to the 2021 Assembly polls from a seat in Kannur, it did not happen and instead he was made the vice- chairman of the Khadi Board, a post that fails to justify his status in the party, but he took it up.
Incidentally, this is the first time since Vijayan took over in 2016, that an issue like this has surfaced in the open and this has caused heartburns in the CPI-M, which is otherwise known for its discipline, unlike the unruly Congress party, where it's a free for all and anyone can say anything.
