E P Jayarajan will be present at today’s CPM state secretariat meeting.

E P Jayarajan, convenor of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and a prominent member of the CPM, will be present at his party’s state secretariat meeting on Friday. He would likely address the accusations made against him over the resort project in Kannur that his family is promoting at the meeting.

EP Jayarajan has been in the centre of a political tempest caused by P Jayarajan, a party member who claimed that the LDF convener and his family owned an Ayurvedic resort in his hometown of Kannur and demanded an investigation. The latter had brought up the allegations at a meeting of the party’s state committee, and state secretary M V Govindan had requested him to file a written complaint. E P Jayarajan, incidentally, did not participate in that meeting.

In truth, EP, as he is known to his fellow comrades, has avoided party and LDF events ever since he took a leave of absence for medical treatment on October 6 of this year. Later, he prolonged the leave, but he attended meetings of the LDF and the CPM state committee. Following the most recent accusations, the party’s central leadership instructed Jayarajan to provide his account before the secretariat meeting on Friday.

Based on the explanation provided by the LDF convener to the secretariat and the reaction from the politburo, the CPM will decide what additional measures to take.

E P Jayarajan’s prolonged absence from LDF and party meetings had previously been criticised by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Govindan, who urged him to get involved in CPM activities. The previous day in Kannur, he then attended a party function there.