CPI(M) Kerala State secretariat censures P.V. Anvar, shields CM’s political secretary P. Sasi

CPI(M) in Kerala struggles to control rogue legislator P.V. Anvar's attacks on party and government, issuing ultimatum for immediate cessation.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] appeared to be at its wit’s end in reining in Left Democratic Front (LDF) Independent legislator P.V. Anvar, whose pugnacious press conferences targeting Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order, M.R. Ajith Kumar, and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s political secretary P. Sasi, had wrongfooted the party and the government recurrently. 

The CPI(M) State secretariat convened in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday (September 25, 2024) communicated exasperation at Mr. Anvar’s vitriolic attacks against the Kerala government and the party. 

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan, who chaired the Secretariat meeting, told reporters that the party had issued an ultimatum to Mr. Anvar to cease muckraking public accusations against the party and the government immediately.

He criticised Mr. Anvar for disregarding the party and the government’s cautionary red flags and repeatedly feeding political opponents and the right-wing media sensational grist to stoke unfounded public scepticism about the CPI(M) and the LDF government.

He said the CPI(M) concluded that Mr. Anvar, as a member of the CPI(M) parliamentary party, had crossed a line. “The party and government are enquiring into the charges raised in writing by Mr. Anvar. The MLA should have refrained from parroting the accusations under investigation in the public repeatedly”, he said.

However, Mr. Govindan said the CPI(M) has allowed Mr. Anvar time to mend his ways despite the transgressions. “Mr. Anvar has made it clear that it was not his intention to go against the party. The CPI(M) has initiated a rectification process to redeem the situation”, he said. 

Mr. Anvar’s latest statement that the government’s high-level probe into Mr. Ajith Kumar’s alleged secret parleys with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leadership was a joke seemed to be the last straw that forced the CPI(M)‘s hand.