CPM shy of touching VS Achuthanandan

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The CPM central committee avoided taking any action against the Kerala Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan, even though the state party leadership sought to corner him for his repeated public statements hurting the party’s interests.

The CC concluded its two-day meeting on Sunday without taking any step to end the factional feud in the party’s Kerala unit or to save the party from the heat after the murder of the party rebel, T.P. Chandrashekharan.

Instead, the CC asked the state party leadership to have more discussions on the controversies there.
There was strong resentment among the CC members from other states against the Kerala leadership for not taking any action against the Idukki strongman M.M. Mani, whose controversial speech boasting of the party’s involvement in political murders in the district had put the CPM in an embarrassing position at both state and national levels.

Even though the politburo and the CC have asked the Kerala leadership to remove Mony from the state committee, they did not set a time-frame for this. He has already been removed from the district secretary post. At the CC, Achuthanandan got a fair chance to place his case.

He reiterated his views; things that he had already expressed in his two letters to general secretary Prakash Karat and senior leader Sitaram Yechury. Sources said he repeated his demand to recast the state leadership, criticising the functioning of the state secretary and his bete noire, Pinarayi Vijayan.

The CC agreed that any action to resolve the crisis in the state unit should be taken only at the meetings of the state secretariat and the state committee to be held from June 17 to 21 in the state capital, where Karat will also be present. The CC was of the view that any immediate action on the Kerala issue would worsen the party’s image in the state.

Our Kozhikode bureau reports: The central committee seems to have opted for the time-tested formula of ‘buying time,’ rather than risking any hasty decision vis-à-vis the demand for disciplinary action against VS.

Sources here said Achuthanandan spoke for nearly 30 minutes at the CC meeting on Sunday and strongly defended the line adopted by him following the TPC murder. He said his aim in making the controversial statements was to save the party. In an emotional speech, he recollected his association with the Communist movement for the past 72 years.

A section of the CC members were sharp in their criticism of the state leadership, especially Pinarayi Vijayan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, for their failure to insulate the party organisation from the sway of criminal elements.

The two leaders were faced with some uncomfortable questions on their perceived failure to anticipate the rot in the Kannur party unit, the home district of the two leaders.