Pinarayi Vijayan’s political secretary P Sasi: The backroom king of Kerala CPI(M)?

Power equations and loyalties underwent drastic changes in the Kerala unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1985 after MV Raghavan (MVR), then a state secretariat member, presented the controversial ‘alternative document’ (badal rekha) at the party state conference. The document, seeking an alliance with parties like Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), was against the official position of CPI(M) then. Realising that the MVR is set to lose his power in the party after the state conference, one of his staunch loyalists in Kannur, P Sasi, switched camps overnight.   

A former CPI(M) member in Kannur, who was loyal to MVR, remembers Sasi turning incommunicado all of a sudden. “We went to his house to check as MVR would return to Kannur the next day. We were told that Sasi went to Bombay,” he said. While MVR and his loyalists were eventually expelled from the party, Sasi returned as a supporter of Pinarayi Vijayan, CPI(M)’s next biggest power centre, to emerge from Kannur.

“That was P Sasi. He is where the power is,” the former CPI(M) member said.

Ties Sasi had with MVR helped him gain his first plum post in the party in 1980—state secretary of the Student Federation of India (SFI). When EK Nayanar became the surprise Chief Minister in 1996, Sasi was anointed his political secretary much to the Left leader’s chagrin. He later achieved greater heights as the confidante of Pinarayi Vijayan, who oversaw his induction to the state secretariat of the party in 2022.

In the intriguing landscape of Kerala's communist politics, few figures have loomed as large or as controversial as P Sasi, causing fear and loathing even among his own party workers. For nearly two decades, Sasi has been the centre of multiple controversies, ranging from illegal deals with political opponents to sexual harassment of party workers’ kin. But for the party, the quiet efficiency of Sasi – a skilled organiser and a legal eagle who could settle disputes – continues to be valuable. 

At 69, Sasi now holds undisputed powers in the government and the party as a CPI(M) state committee member and the political secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The formidable position Sasi enjoys now, according to his opponents, is a testament to his backroom manoeuvre skills—negotiation and political fixing. The perceptions about his ability to keep top police officers and bureaucrats firmly under his control has given him an aura of someone not to be messed around. Many whom TNM reached out to for this profile outrightly refused to speak on Sasi fearing repercussions.