Thiruvananthapuram, Chittayem Gopakumar, the deputy speaker of the Kerala Assembly has expressed his displeasure at the CPI-M after his photo was removed from a picture of a function that took place in the Kerala Assembly on Ambedkar birth anniversary.

Gopakumar, 56, belongs to the CPI and completed a hat-trick of wins from the reserved constituency of Adoor in Pathanamthitta district in the April 2021 Assembly polls and was made the deputy speaker.

Taking to his social media, Gopakumar said he failed to understand why his photo was edited out of the picture published by the CPI-M's organ 'Deshabhimani' , when the pictures of the other ministers were there.

He asked whether this happened because he belonged to the CPI and also raised the question of social justice and equality.

Deshabhimani officials, however, pointed out that there was a detailed news item on the function in the inside pages and the name of Gopakumar was duly mentioned.

The CPI is the second biggest ally of the ruling Left government-led by Pinarayi Vijayan.

Incidentally, Adoor has of late witnessed issues between the various wings of the CPI-M and CPI.