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Unholy links of senior party leaders and increasing factionalism among its cadre have forced the Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kerala to take action.
At a four-day state committee meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, the CPI-M expelled a senior party functionary and former legislator M Sathyanesan for accepting money from liquor contractor Manichan -- prime accused in the Kollam hooch tragedy that killed 35 people in October 2000.
Police investigations and a party inquiry revealed that it was not just Sathyanesan who took money from the liquor mafia.
"Let the CPI-M come out with a list of its party leaders who have accepted money for personal and party use from the liquor mafia in the state. How many crores of rupees might have been accepted from [the] Manichans by the CPI-M leaders," Chief Minister A K Antony remarked.
Many CPI-M leaders said that the action against Sathyanesan was just an eyewash, as several party leaders had accepted money from the liquor mafia when the Left Democratic Front government led by former chief minister E K Nayanar ruled Kerala between 1996 and 2001.
"Even the name of Nayanar's personal secretary is mentioned in police investigations. But why is the leadership not taking any action against the other big leaders," asked an irate CPI-M leader.
The CPI-M has also launched an operation to stem factionalism and infighting in the party. It has dissolved its Alapuzha and Thrissur committees, as factionalism in the last one year had nearly divided the party in these districts.
In the process, senior leaders like G Sudhakaran, V Kesavan, C O Poulose and P K Chandranandan have been censured.
"We have taken the right decision to strengthen the party unity and cut at the root of factionalism," Senior CPI-M leader and the Left Democratic Front convenor Paloli Mohammed Kutty told rediff.com
The CPI-M is against accepting money from liquor barons, Kutty said, and added that the party has issued guidelines in this regard.
The guidelines restrict collection of funds from shady contractors and businessmen and impose ceiling on the collection of funds.
The party has also decided that only teams of party cadres will be permitted to collect funds. Kutty said these measures would effectively curb corruption in the party.
But insiders say more than one year after it lost power in the state assembly elections, the CPI-M is down because of fighting between senior leaders like V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan.
"If our party is serious to fight corruption and factionalism, it needs to unite the power-hungry leaders like Achuthanandan and Vijayan," a senior CPI-M leader and member of the Kerala state assembly remarked.
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