Thiruvananthapuram, April 29 Kerala CPI(M) Secretary, MV Govindan, on Monday gave a clean chit to his senior party colleague and Left Convenor, EP Jayarajan, saying there was nothing wrong in hosting BJP leader Prakash Javadekar for tea.
MV Govindan pointed out that what EP Jayarajan did was very different from what Revolutionary Socialist Party Lok Sabha MP, NK Premachandran did when he had lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Yes, what Premachandran did was wrong and it has to be seen differently from Jayarajan serving tea to Javadekar. Both are different and what Premachandran did was totally wrong,” said Govindan.
Incidentally, the Kerala unit of the CPI(M) had raised a hue and cry when PM Modi invited a handful of MPs, including Premachandran, for lunch in the final session of Parliament.
After this and during Lok Sabha election campaigns, the Left had time and again alleged that Premachandran would soon join the BJP.
Govindan was speaking to the media soon after the CPI(M) brass met to discuss the Jayarajan-Javadekar tea rendezvous at the former’s son’s residence last year.
The issue had taken the state by storm as Jayarajan disclosed it when the state went to the polls on April 26.
“Jayarajan explained in the meeting what happened between him and Javadekar and we were convinced. We told him that he should be careful when selecting ‘friends’ and asked him to proceed with legal action against those who spoke against him,” said Govindan.
Things went haywire last week, when a known power broker and middleman TG Nandakumar said that there was a meeting between a very tall leader of the CPI(M) and Javadekar after the former expressed his desire to join the BJP.
A day later Kerala BJP Vice President Shoba Surendran named Jayarajan and claimed that she met him three times to discuss his entry into the BJP.
Meanwhile, after the party meeting on Monday, Jayarajan told the media that all the rumours of him joining the BJP were baseless and the news of his meeting with Javadekar was part of a conspiracy.
“The media should be careful and not give space to people who say baseless things. This was a conspiracy and a fraud perpetrated by some and the media fell for it. People have now come to know everything,” said Jayarajan.
Now with Govindan giving a clean chit to Jayarajan, the speculation over the veteran leader being removed from the Convenor’s post has been set to rest.
However, according to critic Joseph C Mathew, “I don’t think this matter will rest here, as the national leadership of the party will be looking into it.”
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