JOIN USThe CPM central committee on Sunday chose not to take any disciplinary action against V S Achuthanandan thereby stopping the party’s Kerala unit on its track which had sought action against the veteran leader.
Sources said the issue was raised at a meeting of party’s Central Committee which was also attended by Achuthanandan and his bete noire Pinarayi Vijayan. But the Central Committee asked the state secretariat and state committee to discuss the charge against Achuthanandan that he was embarrassing the party through his public comments.
Achuthanandan has been accused of taking a position contrary to that of the party on the issue of political killings allegedly involving party cadre when the state CPM unit was trying hard to dispel such charges.
Party sources said Achuthanandan raised the need for a change in the leadership in Kerala, a demand he had made earlier, in a letter to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat. In the letter, he said he would like to step down from the post of Opposition Leader if the present Kerala leadership is not changed.
Leadership criticised
Some central committee members have criticised the Kerala leadership over the delay in taking action against Idukki district secretary M M Mani who claimed that the party had made a list of political adversaries to be killed and had already eliminated some of them.
Achuthanandan and Vijayan met Karat on Friday ahead of the two-day Central Committee meeting that ended on Saturday.
The central committee also ratified the West Bengal committee’s decision to expel former MP Anil Basu, who is facing corruption allegations for anti-party activities.
He was earlier suspended from the party for three months.
On the Presidential elections, the central committee authorised the Politburo to formulate a strategy after discussing with other Left and secular parties.