Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 31 (IANS): The ongoing row between Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala and Kerala State CPI-M Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan took a turn for the worse on Friday as the leftist leader dubbed him a Sarsanghchalak within the Congress.

Balakrishnan slammed Chennithala, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, in an article in Communist Party of India-Marxist's party organ 'Deshabhmani'.

It is the second time in a row that Balakrishnan has called Chennithala "the blue-eyed boy of the RSS in Kerala".

"The tag of RSS perfectly fits Chennithala, even more than a RSS member. If one looks into the voting pattern in the 2016 Assembly polls in Haripad constituency (of Chennithala) and the 2019 general elections, the cat is out of the bag on his links and closeness with the RSS. Chennithala got more votes when he contested compared with Congress candidate's in the Lok Sabha polls from his constituency," Balakrishnan said in his article.

Balakrishnan had first claimed Chennithala's close links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Chennithala had hit back the other day and remarked that none has any doubts on his DNA.

The DNA remark probably irked Balakrishnan, as it was meant to target his son Binoy Kodiyeri who was asked to undergo a DNA test by a court in Mumbai after a 33-year-old Mumbai-based woman hailing from Bihar complained to police that Binoy had sexually exploited her for several years on the false promise of marriage and that they had an eight-year-old child.

Incidentally, BJP mouthpiece 'Janmabhoomi' had first written that Chennithala's father was a RSS follower and that veteran CPI-M politburo member S. Ramachandran Pillai was also with the RSS in the past.

Pillai on Friday clarified that he was with the RSS till the age of 15, adding that after finding the RSS ideology "not suiting to his outlook", he joined the CPI-M in 1956 at the age of 18. He said he is happy that he switched over.