Kerala CPI(M) leader M.V. Jayarajan says expelled leaders can return to party fold if they ‘rectify their mistake’

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretariat member M.V. Jayarajan has caused a stir in political circles by signalling that leaders branded as class enemies and expelled from the party could aspire for reamission if they course-correct, tangibly demonstrate ideological rectification and abide by the party’s guiding constitutional principles of democratic centralism. 

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Mr. Jayarajan, who was speaking to a local television channel in Kannur on Sunday (July 5, 2026), appeared to hold out an olive branch to CPI(M) dissidents-turned-United Democratic Front (UDF) Independent MLAs T.K. Govindan and V. Kunhikrishnan, representing the Payyannur and Taliparamba Assembly constituencies respectively. 

“Expelled high-profile leaders like K.R. Gouri and M.V. Raghavan had ideologically reconciled with the party at the fag end of their lives. If Mr. Kunhikrishnan and Mr. Govindan correct their mistakes, the CPI(M) sees no reason why they should not be readmitted into the party fold,” he said. 

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CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan said Mr. Jayarajan had merely echoed a universal communist doctrine that members expelled for betraying the party’s working-class cause could course-correct and seek readmission.

“However, Mr. T.K. Govindan, Mr. Kunhikrishnan and G. Sudhakaran played the party false for their own political ambitions and won on the UDF ticket. The CPI(M) will continue to strongly criticise their turn-coat behaviour,” he said. 

Notably, the CPI(M) had, in January, expelled Mr. Kunhikrishnan, a senior leader and member of the party’s Kannur district committee, on charges of agenda-setting muckraking and backstabbing for raising “unfounded” allegations of misappropriation of funds collected for the welfare of party martyrs’ families, and thereby acting as a tool in the hands of party enemies. 

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Mr. T.K. Govindan had faced the axe for suggesting nepotism in the nomination of P.K. Shyamala, wife of Mr. M.V. Govindan, as the LDF’s candidate in Taliparamba.

Self-criticism

Seemingly hinting at profound introspection and self-criticism in the party, possibly catalysed by the rout in the 2026 Assembly polls, Mr. Jayarajan admitted that the candidate selection in Payyannur had “erred.”

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Mr. M.V. Govindan said the CPI(M) had “self-critically examined” various factors for the LDF’s defeat, including candidate selection.

Kunhikrishnan’s response

Mr. Kunhikrishnan said Mr. Jayarajan’s words were not off the cuff and possibly bore the imprimatur of the CPI(M)’s top leadership. He told reporters in Kannur that he felt vindicated that the party belatedly realised its mistake in fielding T. I. Madhusoodanan in Payyannur.

“However, there is a dichotomy between Mr. Jayarajan’s outreach and his reiteration of the stance that I had wronged the party. Let the CPI(M) explain what wrong I had committed,” he said.