The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday appeared to distance itself from Bineesh Kodiyeri.
A meeting of the central committee chaired by general secretary Sitaram Yechury reportedly felt that the party could not hold State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to blame for the personal conduct of his son Bineesh.
The CPI(M) had been taking flak from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Bengaluru arrested Bineesh on the charge of using illegitimately earned wealth to bankroll drug traffickers.
The ED had also accused him of using an array of shell companies to launder the “proceeds from the crime”.
Given the closeted nature of CPI(M) meetings, it was unclear whether Mr. Balakrishnan faced any criticism from his peers or if the forum had weighed the issue at all. By one account, the CPI(M) felt that wrongdoers deserved their comeuppance. The norm applied to the kin of party leaders as it did to others.
The party felt the BJP had borrowed a strategy from the playbook of past Central governments. It had unleashed the federal law enforcement to unsettle Opposition-ruled States. Kerala was no exception.
The Centre had attempted to lay down a barrage of lies against the government by leaking cherry-picked portions of the statements of the accused to its enablers in the media. The Congress played second fiddle to BJP’s machinations in Kerala.
The BJP’s main accusation was the CPI(M) leadership had mislaid its moral compass to enable relatives to amass wealth through illegal means. However, the real reason for the renewed hostility lay in Bihar.
The BJP had sensed that the CPI(M) was the moving force behind the mustering of secular forces in the State. For one, the party had persuaded the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress, and the CPI(ML) to sink their differences to halt the march of the BJP in Bihar. The coalition has offered battle to the BJP-Janata Dal (United) alliance in 29 seats.
The CPI(M) had initiated similar coalitions in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Assam. The BJP feared the CPI(M) could turn the tide of the battle against the Sangh Parivar forces in the coming elections. The CPI(M)’s messaging was clear in FB posts by its central leadership, including M.A. Baby and P.K. Sreemathy.
