Barely five months after revocation of their suspension from the CPI(M) politburo for indiscipline and factional squabble, Kerala CM are back at their old games.
Achuthanandan faction complains of rigging by Vijayan in party polls
NEW DELHI: Barely five months after revocation of their suspension from the CPI(M) politburo for indiscipline and factional squabble, Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan and his bete noire, state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, are back at their old games defying general secretary Prakash Karat.
Amidst preparations for the five-day 19th party congress in Coimbatore beginning March 29 and state conference in Kottayam on February 12, both the Achuthanandan and Vjayan factions are trying to grab area and district units of the party.
In the wake of complaints that Vijayan and his associates have rigged elections to the area and district committees, the politburo clamped a set of “guidelines” for the conduct of the area and district conferences.
According to sources Vijayan outwitted Achuthanandan and grabbed as many as 11 out of 14 districts in the run up to the state conference reducing the chief minister to a lame duck.
Last month Vijayan vehemently opposed Karat’s bid to recast the Thiruvananthapuram district committee following complaints of rigging. But the faction was forced to reconstitute the 36-member panel of delegates for the state conference by including the Achuthanandan camp who were excluded in the December-end poll.
The chief minister, left with only three districts — Kollam, Ernakulam and Pathananthitta — has complained to Karat on the manipulation by the Vijayan faction. Sources said he even threatened to quit as CM if Vijayan was not restrained.
Vijayan is said to have the backing of more than two-thirds of about 500 delegates attending the conference. Sources said the politburo will intervene to end divisionism.
k_benedict@dnaindia.com
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