Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 6 (IANS): The ongoing tiff between Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) chairman B. Ashok and the employees took a turn for the worse on Wednesday after the CPI-M backed KSEB Officers Association's president M.G.Suresh Kumar was suspended for dereliction of duty.

Surprisingly, State Minister for Electricity K.Krishnankutty welcomed it by saying none are above rules, including him.

Ashok and the employees, especially the CPI-M backed association, have been having a running feud for a while.

On Tuesday, the association staged a protest in front of the headquarters of the KSEB which led to Ashok suspending Kumar.

The association was protesting against the suspension of a lady engineer and according to the chairman, the strike was needless.

Another reason why the chairman was peeved with Kumar was after the lady engineer was suspended, Kumar took to the social media and in public platforms spoke ill of chairman.

Meanwhile, Kumar said this vindictive action cannot be seen as an action against him, instead it's directed against the Association.

But Krishnankutty told the media that rules and laws are for all.

"Even If I break it, it's improper and hence all are bound to follow the directives," said the Minister.

In the highly unionised KSEB, time and again there are confrontations like what has happened and what has shocked the CPI-M is this came at a time when the entire leadership is busy with the five day 23rd Party Congress that began in Kannur, Wednesday.

It is after a very long gap that the Electricity portfolio was given to an ally as all along it was held by a CPI-M leader, which included Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan (1996 to 98), who held it when E.K.Nayanar was the Chief Minister.

Kumar was the private secretary to former CPI-M Electricity Minister's A.K.Balan (2006) and M.M.Mani (2012).