Kottayam: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cut a sorry figure when he had to apologize before the CPM central committee in New Delhi for his controversial interview to a media.

Pinarayi said during the interview that he was against party general secretary Sitaram Yechury contesting the Rajya Sabha election with Congress support.

Yechury would not be able to concentrate on party matters if he went to the Rajya Sabha, he said, adding that as a secretary of CPM Kerala unit earliert, he had not contested to Assembly.

Pinarayi, who is a politburo member, had stood with his close associate Prakash Karat in opposing Yechury.

When the central committee chided Pinarayi for the going public against Yechury even before the central committee had discussed the matter, Pinarayi said he had been misinterpreted.

But the committee was in no mood to buy his argument, following which he tendered the apology.

His arch rival V S Achuthanandan had backed Yechury.