Efforts to pacify Sudhakaran fail; veteran CPI(M) leader to skip KSKTU event

Attempts to pacify Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader G. Sudhakaran, who is at loggerheads with the party, seem to have failed with him deciding to skip an award ceremony organised by Karshaka Thozhilali, the official magazine of the party’s affiliate organisation, the KSKTU, at Mankombu in Kuttanad on Sunday (October 19, 2025).

I have issues only with some leaders and not the party: G. Sudhakaran

In the morning, Mr. Sudhakaran left his house for Kollam to attend another programme. Speaking to the media, the veteran CPI(M) leader said the organisers could go ahead with the programme on their own and that his presence was not necessary.

Last week, CPI(M) leaders C.S. Sujatha, R. Nazar and M. Sathyapalan visited Mr. Sudhakaran at his house and invited him to the award distribution ceremony to be held at Mankombu on Sunday evening (October 19, 2025), which will be attended by party general secretary M.A. Baby, State secretary M.V. Govindan and other leaders. The visit came a day after Mr. Sudhakaran accused party colleague and Fisheries and Culture Minister Saji Cherian, along with a few other leaders, of plotting to get him expelled from the party.

K. Sudhakaran expresses disappointment over removal as KPCC president, blames vested interest within party

Later in an interview with The Hindu, Mr. Sudhakaran said there was no issue with the party and that he remained a member of the CPI(M). Regarding Saji Cherian, he said Mr. Cherian had made an “un-Marxian” statement against him through the press. “In that statement, he asked me to go side by side with the party. I replied that I am already in the party, not outside it. I am party man. Every party member is within the party structure. The statement made by Saji Cherian was the issue. He should not speak like this about a member who has 62 years of experience in the undivided party and in the CPI(M). Saji Cherian was still a school student when I became a cadre of the party,” Mr. Sudhakaran said.

It was not immediately known why he made a u-turn on attending the KSKTU programme after reportedly accepting the invitation earlier.