Kannur (Kerala), Aug 6 — Fresh political tensions have surfaced in Payyannur with CPI-M Kannur district Secretary K.K. Ragesh making combative remarks amid an escalating confrontation with independent MLA V. Kunhikrishnan, underlining the strain within the party following a string of electoral setbacks in what was once considered its impregnable northern Kerala stronghold.
Addressing party workers in Payyannur, Ragesh rejected allegations linking the CPI-M to the burning of a shrimp shed belonging to a supporter of Kunhikrishnan.
During the speech, however, he declared that the party had the strength not only to remove the shed but also everything beneath it, a remark that has drawn sharp criticism from a few quarters.
Kunhikrishnan hit back, accusing the CPI-M of attempting to engineer unrest in the constituency.
He claimed that 22 criminal cases have been registered in connection with recent incidents in Payyannur, of which 21 relate to attacks against him and his supporters, while only one has been registered against CPI-M workers.
The latest war of words comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented political reversal for the CPI-M in Kannur.
In the recent local body elections, the party lost two of its strongest bastions -- Payyannur and Taliparamba -- to former party leaders who contested as rebels with the backing of the Congress-led UDF.
In Taliparamba, veteran leader T.K. Govindan defeated the wife of CPI-M state Secretary M.V. Govindan, while in Payyannur, Kunhikrishnan emerged victorious after breaking ranks with the party, trouncing sitting CPI-M legislator T.I.Madhusoodhan.
The reverses followed the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front's crushing defeat in the Assembly elections, where its strength fell from 99 seats to 35 in the 140-member Kerala Assembly.
The twin electoral setbacks have triggered intense introspection within the party, with the developments in Kannur widely seen as reflecting the continuing political aftershocks of those losses.