Veteran CPM leader C K Bhaskaran dead

ALAPPUZHA: Veteran CPM leader C K Bhaskaran died at a private hospital in Kochi on Friday. He was 80.
Bhaskaran of Chenaparambil, Kallappuram, Muhamma, had been suffering from various old age ailments and was undergoing treatment at a Kochi hospital for the past one week.
He had been the Kanjikkuzhy area secretary and president of Muhamma grama panchayat two times, Muhamma Coir Factory Workers' Union general secretary and Muhamma Labour Society president.
His funeral was held on the premises of his house around 5 pm.
CPM leaders M A Baby, MLAs Thomas Isaac, A M Ariff, P Thilothaman and G Sudhakaran, K C Venugopal, MP, district panchayat president Pratibha Hari, former MP C S Sujatha, CPM district secretary C B Chandrababu and Mahila association district president Jalaja Chandran paid tributes to the departed leader.
He leaves behind wife Ponnamma, son Shajimon, daughters Geetha, Latha and Sindhu. Bhaskaran and his friend T K Palani had faced disciplinary action from CPM after they were allegedly instrumental in V S Achuthanandan's defeat in Mararikkulam assembly constituency in 1996. tnnBhaskran was the secretary of CPM's Mararikkulam area committee then.
After VS' shocking defeat in the polls, both Palani and Bhaskaran were demoted by the party to the branch committees in 1998. After the 1999 LS polls, CPM here had also expelled Palani from the party for allegedly working against LDF candidate C S Sujatha.
However, after 10 years of disciplinary action, Palani and Bhaskaran were reinstated to Mararikkulam area committee in 2008. Bhaskaran was the area committee secretary.
However, last year the area committee under Bhaskaran was dissolved after it allegedly acted against the party's official faction.