THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran was heavily criticised in the KPCC political affairs committee meeting for pointing out that the issue of neglecting the backward communities, including Ezhavas, in the selection of candidates resulted in the party's poor performance in the recently concluded elections. The collective attack against Mullappally was led by A and I group leaders.

Mullappally raised the issue in his introductory speech at the meeting, quoting Kerala Kaumudi report on backward communities being ignored during the candidate selection process. He stated that the party had to face a severe consequence for ignoring the backward communities.

"There was widespread criticism that even the dominant backward communities, including the Ezhavas, were ignored in the candidate selection process. Leading newspaper Kerala Kaumudi itself had pointed out this allegation at that stage. Yet we could not correct it. Criticism is also strong within the party that group interests are paramount, not working tradition and merit. As the KPCC president, I also heard a lot of criticism. I was not even involved in deciding the candidate for my own ward. The method of deciding candidates on the basis of group interest only would be catastrophic. The Political Affairs Committee should take this seriously, "Mullappally said.

Instead of giving an explanation for this, the A and I group leaders went on to attack Mullappally and insult him personally. The attack was led by I group leader VD Satheesan and A group leader PC Vishnunath who did not even bother to mention about the topic raised by Mullappally. Benny Behanan and Shanimol Usman also joined the attack.

Only K Muraleedharan, who spoke later, criticized the party for not following social justice in deciding its candidates.