THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat may find the Left camp’s fight against the Indo-US nuke deal easier to handle compared to the tough time he is facing with the faction-ridden Kerala unit.

“In view of the factional trend found in the party in the past, the central committee has come out with a fresh set of guidelines,” Karat had said on Sunday.

A day after Karat put in place a set of guidelines for the smooth conduct of party elections, CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday, “Factionalism is not a grave threat as some section of the media making it out to be. But we are yet to root out such tendencies.”

The politburo, which nullified action against party members who came out in support of VS Achuthanandan when he was denied a ticket in the last assembly elections, rapped Vijayan’s points man EP Jayarajan for receiving money from an absconding lotto king for the party mouthpiece.

Vijayan, engaged in a war with CM Achuthanandan since the past party election in 2005, reiterated his allegation that a some journalists were trying to portray him as the embodiment of all evil.