Kochi: Veteran CPM leader M.M. Lawrence said that in order to remove him from the CPM Central Committee, former Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan forced the then State Secretary Chadayan Govindan, who was suffering from cancer, to visit Delhi. 

Lawrence launched a scathing attack on Achuthanandan in his autobiography titled 'Ormacheppu Thurannappol' while recalling the 'vettinirathal episode' during the CPM's Palakkad state conference in 1998. 

It was during the conference that the CITU lobby, represented by Lawrence, K.N. Ravindranath and V.B. Cherian, was defeated in a move allegedly spearheaded by VS as revenge for his defeat at the Mararikulam Assembly seat in 1996. Lawrence recalls that it was only late T.K. Ramakrishnan who spoke against dismissing  him from the committee during the voting. 

"After the Palakkad state conference, sixteen people, including myself and K.N. Ravindranath, faced defeat. Literally, we were ousted as part of factionalism. After that, some people opined that I should vacate the post of LDF convener immediately. I called a press conference and announced my decision to step down before they move to oust me," he says in the book. 

"After removing me from the Central Committee, I was assigned to the Ernakulam Area Committee. Some people thought that it would mentally exhaust me. They assumed I would quit the party without participating in the area committee. However, that didn't happen." 

Lawrence had previously openly aired his feelings towards VS and accused him of using party workers to boost his political image. The book, published by DC Books, recounts the history of factionalism in the CPM over the years.