Kodiyeri Balakrishnan tries to play peacemaker, snubbed by Law Academy bosses

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an unusual move that reflected the CPM’s ‘obligations’ to a private institution which is currently in the eye of a political storm, the party’s state secretary

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan

on Sunday tried to broker peace with the top management of

Kerala Law Academy

.

He requested them to concede the main demand of student protestors to remove the college’s principal Lekshmi Nair and end the 19-day agitation in the college, but the director board of Law Academy categorically rebuffed his suggestion.

Kodiyeri had talks with the founder director of the college Narayanan Nair, who was summoned to AKG Centre to try and find a patch-up formula to end the strike. Law Academy director Nagarajan and CPM state committee member and brother of Narayanan Nair, Koliyakode Krishnan Nair, were also present at the meeting.

With its own student wing refusing to toe the party line and the onus now resting on the government to find a solution, the CPM state secretary was reportedly forced to intervene.

In a related development, the CPI state executive has decided to support the agitation against the Law Academy management and will be taking over the strike from its students’ wing AISF.

The director board of Law Academy criticised student unions for not agreeing to discussions with the management and observed it was up to the principal whether she wanted to resign or not.

The respective leaderships of SFI, AISF, ABVP and KSU have decided to continue with their protests till the principal resigned.