CPI (M) censures senior party leader Lawrence

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPI (M) in Kerala Sunday decided to censure a senior leader M.M. Lawrence for making adverse remarks against party leaders including V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan in the context of the long-drawn factionalism in the state unit.

The action against octogenarian Lawrence, a former convener of the LDF and a frontline trade unionist hailing from Kochi area, was announced at a press meet here by CPI (M) state secretary Vijayan.

"Action against Lawrence is being taken for committing some mistakes that put the party in poor light," Vijayan told reporters in reply to their queries.

He, however, declined to elaborate.

A trenchant critic of Achuthanandan, the imminent cause for organisational action against Lawrence was his accusation, in a newspaper interview, that not only his bete noire but others including Vijayan were responsible for the persisting factional trends in the party in Kerala.

Despite being the LDF convener then, Lawrence failed to get into the state committee at the state meet held in Palakkad in the 1990s allegedly due to machinations by Achuthanandan and his camp followers.

In the controversial interview, Lawrence had alleged that Vijayan and a few others, who later fell out with Achuthanandan, had a hand in "felling" him and some other leaders known as part of the "CITU faction" those days.