Achuthanandan boycotts CPM meet, triggers exit rumours

Dissent in CPM’s Kerala leadership came to the fore again after party veteran V S Achuthanandan on Sunday boycotted the ongoing state conference of the party in Alappuzha and returned to his official residence in Thiruvananthapuram, triggering speculation over his next move.

Amid reports that   Achuthanandan was considering stepping down as Leader of the Opposition on Monday, the CPM leadership hardened its stance stating that there was no room for pressure tactics.

Criticising Achuthanandan’s “unacceptable” absence from the conference, Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said a meeting on Sunday decided that no “factional interests” or “bargaining” would be entertained. CPM general secretary Prakash Karat will inform Achuthanandan through phone the PB’s views on the matter and request the leader to attend the conference.

 “In the CPM, no one is larger than the party,” he said.

Achuthanandan’s “protest” is in retaliation for repeated affronts by the party’s official faction under its state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and more specifically, a resolution adopted by the CPM state secretariat that slammed his “anti-party” mindset. His demand for a withdrawing the resolution has not been addressed by the central leadership even as the state delegates continued to mount criticism on him at the conference on Sunday.

At a politburo meeting at the conference venue, the central leadership is learnt to have cleared a proposal to discuss in the Central Committee “concerns” raised by the veteran leader on functioning of the party’s state unit.

 However, apart from sending two local leaders from the Achuthanandan camp as emissaries, the leadership has not publicly reached out to Achuthanandan, the only surviving founder-member of the CPM.

Achuthanandan caused a stir on Saturday when he walked out of the conference where he was reportedly subjected to criticism over his “anti-party” activities.