No issues in Kannur CPI-M, says Kodiyeri Balakrishnan

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 24 CPI-M Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Tuesday said that there are no issues in the Kannur unit of his party.

"All what has been heard is nothing but the work of the media and there are no issues at all in the Kannur unit of the party. No action was taken against any party leader. All this is nothing but the creation of the media," said Balakrishnan, who is presently on leave from the post of the state Secretary of the party's Kerala unit.

There have been reports in a section of media about "serious differences of opinion" having surfaced in the party unit in Kannur, which has over the years, been the cradle of the Communist movement in the state and like in the past, now all the top leaders of the party come from Kannur.

The long list of heavyweights include Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Balakrishnan himself, Local Bodies Minister M.V. Govindan, Central Committee Members E.P. Jayarajan, P.K. Sreemathi, and K.K. Shailaja (all three former state Ministers and the last a sitting legislator).

Then there is P. Jayarajan, who currently has a very strong following, and M.V. Jayarajan.

Ever since Vijayan became the last word in both government and the party, things have apparently not been that smooth in Kannur, which has given enough fodder to the media to speculate.

Vijayan, who wrote himself into record books by becoming the first Left Chief Minister to retain power, saw his stature grew manifold and there was no whimper of protest when he decided to drop Shailaja from the cabinet in his stint.

However, P. Jayarajan now felt that he was cold-shouldered as Vijayan now failed to notice him and the two rarely have any communication and this issue was focussed on media with reports claiming that the leader was being censored by the party.

But with Balakrishnan, who is presently on medical leave and rarely speaks to the media, breaking his habit to tell the media that things are fine in the party may indicate that all is not well and the coming days will reveal this.