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CPI(M)’s war within : Kerala Chief Minister suspended from politburo |
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Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and state party secretary P. Vijayan have been suspended from the party’s most powerful forum, the Politburo, for violating the norms of the party. They had attacked each other in comments to the media relating to the demolition drive in Munnar and other places. However, both of them will continue to discharge all their other party responsibilities. This means that 84 year old Achuthanandan will continue as Chief Minister and Vijayan as the state secretary of the party. Significantly, the politburo at its meeting in New Delhi on May 26 also appreciated the work done by the Achuthanandan-led Left Democratic Front government that completed one year in office on May 18.
Reacting to the development, former minister and CMP leader M.V. Raghavan said both of them should resign from their posts. KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala said: “The government was totally paralysed and the latest events demonstrated the deep fissures in the CPI-M.’’
The matter would be placed before the CPI(M) Central Committee, due to hold its next meeting on June 24-26.
Struggling to calm factional wars in the state party unit for more than a year, the CPI(M) central leadership decided to act tough, observing that “such behaviour is unacceptable from members of the politburo and action should be taken.
The Pinarayi-Achuthanandan war has been on in the state unit since the last Assembly poll which brought the CPI(M)-led front to power. The powerful Pinarayi faction manipulated party bodies in such a way that Achuthanandan was nearly denied a ticket for the poll.
In promoting new faces, the state secretary fought to keep Achuthanandan out of the poll fray. However, the central leadership intervened, and a visit of Karat along with the rest of the party leadership to Kerala finally enabled Achuthanandan to get a ticket.
In a firm step, the party’s politburo passed a resolution stating “these remarks and open criticism by the two senior leaders in Kerala have violated the norms of the party and the clear directive of the politburo and the Central Committee that the state party leadership not air their differences publicly.”
The uneasy equation between the two sides was in evidence in portfolio allocation and later decisions relating to availing of a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the local bodies and the ongoing demolition of structures on encroached government land in Munnar.
Political observers point out that the CPI(M) leadership has never hesitated to initiate action against its own leaders when warranted. Not even as tall a leader as E.M.S. Namboodiripad, who led the world’s first Communist Government in Kerala way back in 1957, was immune to the party’s commitment to discipline.
The Politburo’s latest decision is, thus, in keeping with a long tradition of firm intervention whenever needed. And the party has shown time and again that it has the internal strength to absorb the repercussions of such actions.
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