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| CPM reeling under surge of scandals | | |
BL KAK
NEW DE3LHI, JULY 5: The high-profile Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leadership is in a practical dilemma, with its Kerala unit reeling under the surge of scandals and corruption charges. The Kerala unit of the CPM is heading the coaliton rule in the State. And it is in the grip of a scam involving millions of rupees received from lottery mafia and a finance company.
After several days of defensive posture against media reports and subsequent furore in the Assembly, the CPM State Committee has eventually asked the party’s State Secretariat to “examine thoroughly the facts” relating to four deposits of Rs5 million each received by the party newspaper Deshabhimani for its expansion initiatives.
“Though allegations against this (acceptance of deposits) are being levelled with a particular motive, the CPM State Committee has now decided to return a sum (to the depositor concerned) now itself”, a press release issued by the committee said after prolonged discussion in the presence of Prakash Karat, the all-India general secretary of the party.
The committee’s face-saving decision was in effect admission of the grave financial irregularities indulged in by responsible persons heading the media mouthpiece of the party. What details are expected to come out when the secretariat “examines thoroughly the facts relating to the deposits” when the party depicts the incident as “secret designs of the people who are trying to misuse the scandal to shower baseless allegations against the party”?
The Congress called for a CBI enquiry into the scandal and CPM’s alleged links with a lottery tycoon. Other parties too see the scandal coming after the earlier expulsion of the paper’s deputy general manager for his dealings with a financial company, involved in criminal cases, as the tip of the iceberg.
As Keralites wait for more skeletons to tumble down from the CPM cupboard, the silence being maintained by Chief Minister of Kerala,V S Achuthanandan, on the issue is intriguing. CPM party affairs have been the focus of media attention for the last many months. The deep schism running through the party ranks and leadership has often come to the open and given enough headaches to the all India leadership forcing it to intervene and suspend State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and Achuthanandan from the politburo last month.
The ceasefire was superficial and the rumblings of groupism could still be heard even at State committee meeting the other day when the scandal came up for discussion. The meeting heard serious criticism about the attacks on the media by party leaders, especially the attack against the Mathrubhumi daily which exposed the tainted dealings. While some of the members regretted the attempt to dub the Mathrubhumi a yellow journal, the party State secretary insisted that it is now indulging in yellow journalism, giving enough hint to the people who are the leaders behind the corrupt deals.
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