Alappuzha (Kerala): The CPI-M has hit out at the Congress for alleging that disgruntled Marxists may be behind the vandalisation of a famed Communist leader`s memorial building.
Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary Pinnarayi Vijayan called the Congress allegation "baseless" and "irresponsible".
"The Congress is behind this, and the Congress statement is not acceptable," he said.
The memorial building of P Krishna Pillai was found vandalised on Thursday morning. Pillai was a founder of the Communist movement in the state - and a poet too.
He died in 1948 following a snake bite.
Congress president Ramesh Cheenithala said in Kannur that the memorial was located at a place "where there is a huge following of the CPI-M, and this has happened on account of the deep rooted factionalism in that party".
CPI-M leader and former chief minister VS Achuthanandan said: "The statement of the Congress describing the vandalisation as a factional feud is most heinous."
Kerala Home Minister T Radhakrishnan has set up a special team under an inspector general of police to probe the incident.
