Pathanamthitta: The CPM-CPI clash in Koduman will not go away. In connection with the Angadikal South Service Co-operative Bank election, CPM and DYFI activists surrounded and harassed CPI leaders. CPI Angadikal local secretary Suresh Babu and constituency secretariat member Udayakumar were brutally beaten by DYFI activists in Nadu Road. The clashes between the two factions erupted last Sunday over allegations that the CPM was rigging the Co-operative Bank polls. Several people from both sides were injured in the stoning and torture. Kodumon CI and two policemen sustained head injuries. That night, there were attacks on the homes of CPI leaders in Angadikal North and Ikkad areas. The CPI district secretary had on Saturday staged a protest in front of the Adoor DYSP office against the police not arresting the culprits in the CPM attack. The CPI leaders said that the police were taking unilateral action by filing cases only against CPI activists and imposing non-bailable clauses. When the CPI leaders came to lodge a complaint with the Adoor DySP, the police stopped them for a long time. The activists broke up after the police assured them that a case would be registered in connection with the attack on a house in Koduman. The trouble started when a few activists who had been working for the CPM in the Kodumon-Angadikal area recently left the party and joined the CPI. As a result, the Co-operative Bank did not give a seat in the elections and the CPM-CPM relationship deteriorated. The election of Kodumon Service Co-operative Bank will be held on the 30th of this month. Here too, the CPI is contesting against the CPM panel. Leaders of youth organizations are also facing challenges through social media. The CPI has again lodged a complaint along with the footage which has now come out. The LDF also lodged a complaint with the state leadership.
