CPI(M) suspects TK behind poll report leak

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 19. The CPI(M) State leadership suspects the veteran party leader and Central committee member, Mr. T.K. Ramakrishnan, to be responsible for the leak of the election review report which got published in major newspapers.

The State leadership feels that Mr. Ramakrishnan might have left the report at the Kerala House in New Delhi when returning to the State after attending the party Central committee meeting a fortnight ago. The party has constituted a two-member committee comprising another Central committee member, Mr. P.K. Gurudasan, and the State secretariat member, Mr. P. Karunakaran, to inquire how the report found its way to the media.

The leakage of sensitive information relating to the party was a major topic of disucssion at the State committee meeting a fortnight ago which took up the election review report. However, the election review report itself got leaked to the media a day after the meeting. Subsequently, two prominent Malayalam dailies started serialising contents of the report from New Delhi and Thrissur causing serious embarrassment to the CPI(M) leadership.

The appearance of the report from New Delhi is what angered the State party leadership most because the serial on the contents of the report was followed by a piece based on the observations of the CPI(M) Central committee about it. The Central committee, it may be recalled, was highly critical of the conclusions arrived at by the State party and sought revision of the poll review report.

Overhaul of party organ: The CPI(M) State committee has also set in motion an overhaul of the party organ "Deshabhimani". The party leadership is unhappy with the way the paper has been functioning for a long time now and is reported to be planning a Voluntary Retirement Scheme as well. The Kottayam unit of "Deshabhimani" is reported to be in serious financial crisis and is being cross subsidised by other better performing units.

The report on the present state of "Deshabhimani" was placed before the just-concluded two-day meeting of the State committee and the committee spent almost the whole of the second day to deliberate on the report. The leadership has made it known that it wants the circulation of the daily to touch at least five lakh copies in a year's time. The party leadership has all along been at a loss to explain why "Deshabhimani" could not reach anywhere near the circulation of some of the mainstream papers when the membership of the CPI(M) and its class and mass organisations is well above two million in Kerala.

VS likely to stay: Contrary to reports in a section of the media, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. V.S. Achuthanandan, would continue as editor of "Deshabhimani". There were speculations that the former Chief Minister, Mr. E.K. Nayanar, would return to the post that he had held for a long time now that he has no specific role to perform at the State level. Party insiders say that no such change is being contemplated for the time being.

The CPI(M) State committee also decided to appoint the late E.M.S. Namboodiripad's son and former State Planning Board member, Mr. E.M. Sreedharan, as manager of "Deshabhimani". The party might have to find a new manager for the Kannur unit of the paper as the incumbent, Mr. P. Jayarajan, has got elected to the Assembly.

The CPI(M) State committee is meeting again on June 29 and 30 and July 1 to collate the views of lower level committees on the Assembly election outcome and submit a revised report to the party Central committee.

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