C.V. Manoharan, area committee member of the party at Kanjikuzhy was suspended by his party for six months, on Saturday. His crime was that his son's wedding party turned a bit grandiose. The wedding took place on Thursday and the next day a reception was held, along with a DJ party.
At the party, a scuffle broke out and the next day the issues snowballed into a major controversy, leaving the local party unit red-faced.
Angered by the turn of events, an area committee meeting was called in to discuss the matter. Manoharan was also present in the meeting. The committee expressed unhappiness over the issue and said that it was unbecoming of a true Communist to have organised such a grandiose wedding.
At the meeting, Manoharan tried to defend himself, saying that everything was planned and organised by his son - the groom, but it fell on deaf ears. Manoharan was handed out the suspension for six months.
"It was not right on the part of him to have organised such a ceremony as it included dance, songs and what not. As a party leader this should not have taken place as it's not right," said R. Nazar, CPI-M senior leader to the media.
But what has become the talk among the party men is there seems to be different yardsticks for different leaders.
Earlier, the CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had faced the similar heat when a 33-year-old Mumbai-based woman filed a complaint before the police alleging that his elder son, Binoy Kodiyeri had sexually exploited her for several years on the pretext of marriage and they had an eight-year-old child.
After being on the run for some time, he secured bail from the Dindoshi court in Mumbai on the condition that he should undergo a DNA test, the results are awaited.
When this news hit the party and Balakrishnan hard, the party ruled that for the wrong acts of children, parents need not be taken to task.
But in Manoharan's case, the exemption given to Balakrishnan was not extended to him, said a party leader.
( With inputs from IANS )