Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 16 (IANS): Murmurs began in CPI-M's Kerala unit over corruption charges against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan, and some in the party questioned differential treatment to a party leader when his son was arrested in a PMLA case.

Though Vijayan continues to have an iron grip over the party and also the government, murmurs have begun that he has to be "reined in" after news surfaced about the Income Tax department's findings that Veena's IT firm Exalogic got "illegal" monthly payments from a controversial Kochi based mining company.

Even as the top brass of the CPI(M) is doing their best to defend, a section in the party is questioning why senior leader and former state Home Minister late Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was put into a tight spot after his younger son was arrested in a PMLA case.

Balakrishnan, at that time was a cancer patient and the party gave him an honorable exit, using which Balakrishnan decided to take medical leave and handed over his post to Vijayaraghavan.

A media critic on condition of anonymity said it remains to be seen if the present murmurs in the party will get louder.