KOLLAM: A faction of the CPI (M) in Kerala expresses that the party’s campaign depicting N K Premachandran getting close to BJP will have a negative effect for the party. Though this has not yet been raised within the party, some leaders who had participated in the NREG workers’ state summit had expressed this. Pinarayi Vijayan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had participated in this summit.

Some leaders say that the party should not underestimate N K Premachandran’s tactics of converting the drama behind the inauguration of Kollam bypass into votes. Pinarayi had disgraced N K Premachandran at a public event in 2014. N K Premachandran won the election following this remark. M A Baby had said that Pinarayi’s remark about Premachandran had a huge impact on the election. However, the party had not discussed this as Pinarayi Vijayan was the secretary of CPI(M) during that time.

RSP has already declared N K Premachandran as the official candidate at Kollam for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This gives him more time to give replies to all the controversies.