Controversial Leftist writer M N Vijayan dead

Thrissur, Oct 3: Controversial Leftist writer M N Vijayan died here today after collapsing at a press conference at the Thrissur Press Club. He was 77.

Mr Vijayan, who had parted company with the CPI-M a few years ago after alleging that key party leaders took bribes in form of foreign donations, was rushed to a local hospital but could not be saved.

Only last week, Vijayan, a noted writer, speaker and academic who had edited the CPM's 'Deshabhimani' weekly for several years, had been acquitted in a defamation case by the Ernakulam chief judicial magistrate court.

The defamation case was brought against him by the Left-leaning Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad president K Pappootty, against an article published in the May-June, 2003 issue of the magazine 'Padhom', edited by Vijayan.

The article had termed the Parishad as ''betrayers of the sovereign rights of people and agents of imperialist expansionism and alleged that it received huge bribes on the pretext of donations.

UNI