Left frames rules after Narendra Modi's visa ban letter's fiasco

CL MANOJ

NEW DELHI: CPM and CPI have asked their legislators and office-bearers to endorse public petitions only after veracity of their sponsors were scrutinized and cleared by their respective party leadership.

The two parties have imposed strict guidelines following the row over signatures of party leaders in a memorandum to the US administration which pleaded for continuing the visa ban on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and CPI Rajya Sabha member MV Achuthan had denied being signatories to the memorandum.

The CPI leadership also handed out a censure to national executive member and ex-MP , Aziz Pasha, for actively helping Mohammed Adeeb, an independent who organised the controversial memorandum. Pasha was reprimanded for trying to publicly disagree with both Yechury and Achuthan when they denied having signed the memorandum.

The action was taken, sources said, by the CPI national executive meeting last week after Pasha failed to give a convincing explanation about his conduct.