T’puram: CPM rebel and MLA T K Govindan questioned the rationale behind the justifications offered by opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan and CPM Kannur district secretary K K Ragesh for the humiliating defeat suffered by party candidates in Payyannur and Taliparamba in assembly elections. Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, he said Vijayan’s claim that people had erred by rejecting the party candidates, while the party leadership had committed no fault, was unreasonable. He said Vijayan’s justification proved that CPM was not ready to accept its follies and mend its ways.He said Vijayan did not dare to examine the reasons that prompted people to reject CPM candidates. He said Vijayan’s claims at public meetings in Kannur were bizarre and did not conform to the findings of CPM’s central committee report that identified lapses in candidate selection in Taliparamba and Payyannur.“CPM’s central leadership said in its report that the party would undergo a correction process. But the speeches of Vijayan went against the spirit of the party’s findings. It is a plain challenge to the public,” said Govindan, adding that the manner in which Vijayan spoke indicated that CPM was not prepared to undertake any self-correction.He also came down heavily on Ragesh. “I held leadership positions in CPM long before Ragesh was born. I don’t claim credit for my legacy as a CPM worker. But before making baseless personal allegations, he should see his image in the mirror. Ragesh was an electrician-plumber when he started as a party man. Let some agency assess the worth of the properties he has amassed. Let them also probe my net worth. Things will be clear then,” he said.Govindan said there was nothing anti-party in a member expressing a desire to contest an election as the party constitution did not bar anyone from expressing such wishes. “But nobody can say that I asked party members to suggest my name for Taliparamba seat,” he said, adding that Kannur district committee had disregarded CPM, the public sentiment and overzealously imposed incompetent candidates on them.Govindan said that, as a communist, he did not wish to wash CPM’s dirty linen in public. He added that if any CPM functionary dared to discredit him with fake allegations, he would not hesitate to respond in kind.
