The removal of CPM leader E.P. Jayarajan as LDF convener in Kerala is likely to revive talk about the cornered veteran joining the BJP.
The decision to remove the Kannur strongman, who has been at loggerheads with the state leadership for quite some time, was made at the party state secretariat on Saturday.
The meeting had been called ostensibly to discuss whether the controversial actor turned party legislator from Kollam, M. Mukesh, should resign as MLA following the allegations of sexual harassment against him.
While the party decided to back Mukesh to the hilt, the axe fell on Jayarajan. This is being seen in political circles as a move to divert attention from the controversy surrounding Mukesh, considered close to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Many parts of the state have been witnessing protests organised by the Opposition Congress and the BJP demanding the resignation of Mukesh.
The action against Jayarajan comes four months after his controversial meeting with BJP leader Prakash Javadekar during the 2024 general election. Javadekar was in charge of the Kerala BJP then.
In the run-up to the elections — and until the media reported the secret meeting with Javadekar at the flat of Jayarajan's son in Thiruvananthapuram’s suburbs — the LDF convener had been vocal about the "outstanding candidates" the BJP had fielded in the state.
Jayarajan had also contended that the contest for the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala was between the Left Front and the BJP. He had claimed that the Congress-led United Democratic Front would come a cropper.
Ultimately, the UDF won 18 seats with the BJP opening its account for the first time in Kerala and the LDF winning just one seat.
At that time, Jayarajan was also accused of holding secret talks with central leaders of the BJP, with Shobha Surendran — the firebrand state leader and BJP candidate from Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency — the go-between.
Surendran had claimed that Jayarajan had camped in Delhi, meeting Amit Shah and others, but changed his mind at the last moment. "There was a threat to his life. I didn’t want him to die," Surendran had claimed at the time.
The Kannur CPM is known for taking revenge on those who desert the party. The murder of dissident T.P. Chandrashekharan in 2012 is still considered an act of revenge by Vijayan, who had as then party state secretary appeared to justify the murder by saying: "A renegade will always remain a renegade."
It was Jayarajan’s admission about the meeting with Javadekar on the very morning of the polling, April 26, that had upset the CPM leadership the most.
A visibly upset Vijayan had commented: "If Lord Shiva meets a sinner, Shiva too will become a sinner."
Although there were many interpretations of the comment, a large section of the people believed that the CPM was soft on the BJP. This belief gained currency with Vijayan going all out to attack the Congress, Rahul Gandhi in particular.