THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: T K Govindan and V P Kunhikrishnan, former CPM leaders who rebelled against the party and successfully contested as independents in the assembly election, took oath as MLAs on Thursday.
Both took a “solemn” pledge amid a rousing welcome by the ruling front MLAs, who wildly thumped their desks to greet the two leaders who breached the party citadels of Payyannur and Taliparamba.
Govindan represents the Taliparamba constituency, while Kunhikrishnan represents Payyannur.
Before taking his oath, Govindan walked up to Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan and shook hands with him.
Kunhikrishnan greeted Pinarayi, but did not shake hands with him. The CPM had expelled Govindan from its primary membership on March 17, a day after he raised allegations against the selection of P K Shyamala — the wife of CPM state secretary M V Govindan — as the LDF candidate for the Taliparamba constituency in the State Assembly elections. The party stated that the action against the veteran leader was for violating party discipline during the election period.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] rebel and Independent candidate backed by the United Democratic Front (UDF), V. Kunhikrishnan, defeated CPI(M)’s T.I. Madhusoodanan in the Payyannur Assembly constituency by a decisive margin of 7,487 votes.
(With inputs from TNIE)
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