THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ending his 20-year-old stint with
CPM,
Cherian Philip rejoined
Congress by terming that “there is no inner party democracy in the CPM”.
“I prefer to die in my home rather than dying in a shelter home,” said Philip. “There is no internal democracy in CPM. If I write anything then I would become an enemy for them. In Congress, there is internal democracy and everyone can express their opinion,” he said.
Later, he said the chief minister is under the control of a caucus led by additional private secretary
C M Raveendran
in his office. “Raveendran is the super CM in the office and no one will be able to approach the chief minister without his consent. Many top bureaucrats and ministers have complained against him to me. The chief minister is totally clueless on what is happening in his office,” said Philip.
He said the cabinet ministers and party leaders fear the chief minister and hence they do not approach him directly or tell him anything straight. Hence the chief minister is being misled by this caucus, he said.
Philip said he had to leave Congress since the then party leaders were not ready to listen to his demands. However, now Congress has learnt from its mistakes and took the decision to introduce new faces both in the organisation and also in the parliamentary party.
Earlier, Philip met senior party leader
A K Antony
at his house. “Though we had strife initially, our discord condensed very soon. Now with this meet up, we were able to resolve the issues,” said Antony.
CPM clarifies
Philip had come alone to CPM and is now going back to Congress alone, he was not a party member and has not held any position in the party, said CPM acting secretary
A Vijayaraghavan
. On Philip’s allegations against the CM’s office, Vijayaraghavan said, “The people of Kerala know who the chief minister is and how his office is functioning. Transparency has been ensured there.”