Trouble in CPI-M over choice of political secretary to Achuthanandan

Senior CPI-M leader CP Narayanan, who was proposed by the party as political secretary to chief minister VS Achuthanandan in place of KN Balagopal who became a Rajya Sabha member, is learnt to have conveyed to the party his reluctance to take up the post since the chief minister had reservations about his choice.
   
According to CPI-M sources, Narayanan has communicated to the party state secretariat that he did not wish to take up the assignment paving the way for a controversy over the matter.
  
Narayanan, now a member of the state Planning Board, was chosen by the CPI-M state secretariat as political secretary to chief minister last month.
  
However,Achuthanandan had reportedly expressed his displeasure at the choice and conveyed it to the party's central leadership. Though he did not make any open statement on the issue, he had recently replied to a question at a press meet that chief minister would decide on who should be the political secretary.
  
Narayanan,a CPI-M ideologue and the editor of party ideological journal `Chintha,' was once close to Achuthanandan in the internal feud in the party state unit. However, he is now identified with the official faction of the party led by state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.