Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala unit of the CPM has imposed an unusual restriction on party central committee member P K Sreemathy. She has been directed not to participate in leadership meetings or take up organisational responsibilities within Kerala in her capacity as a central committee member. It was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who conveyed this at the state secretariat meeting.

Sreemathy had attended the secretariat meeting held last week. At the beginning of the meeting, Pinarayi told her that such participation was not permitted and that no special exemption had been granted to her.

However, Sreemathy replied that no restriction on attending the meeting had been communicated to her when she spoke with general secretary M A Baby and state secretary M V Govindan. Once the Chief Minister clarified that the age relaxation granted at the party congress was applicable only to the central committee, no one else commented further.

Sreemathy did not attend Friday’s secretariat meeting. However, she did participate in Saturday’s state committee meeting. Those who had exited the Central Committee due to the age limit were invited as special invitees to the state committee. It was on this basis that A K Balan and others attended the meeting. Sreemathy was also allowed to attend the state committee meeting under the same consideration. Generally, central committee members from Kerala are assigned special organisational responsibilities within the state. It has been decided that no such responsibility would be assigned to Sreemathy.

Following the strict enforcement of the age limit, Sreemathy, Balan and Anavoor Nagappan were excluded from the state committee and secretariat at the state conference held in Kollam. However, the party congress granted an exemption to Sreemathy, allowing her to continue as a central committee member. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, a central committee member from Kashmir, were also given age relaxations by the party congress. 

Although Central Committee members are ordinarily entitled to participate in state secretariat and committee meetings, it is in this context that the restriction has been imposed on her.