JOIN USV S skips CPM state conference
CPM veteran V S Achuthanandan and the leadership of the party’s Kerala unit refused to compromise on their respective stands as the differences panned out to familiar status quo on Monday.
The 91-year-old leaderrefused to return to the party’s state conference in Alappuzha citing differences with the state leadership under outgoing state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. For the first time in five decades, Achuthanandan was removed from the list of members set to constitute the party’s new state committee.
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who has taken over as the new state secretary of the party, reiterated that Achuthanandan’s absence from the conference was unacceptable but the new leadership left possibilities of a compromise open by keeping one of the 88 state committee slots “vacant”. Achuthanandan is still member of the party’s central committee.
Earlier, Achuthanandan clarified in a statement that he could not attend the conference because a state secretariat resolution had termed him “anti-party”.
“I have also written to the party general secretary clarifying my stand,” he said. Balakrishnan, however, said there was no move to withdraw remarks made against Achuthanandan from the secretariat resolution.
Achuthanandan—the only surviving founder-member of the CPM—welcomed the removal of portions against him in the party’s organisational report presented at the conference. There were speculations that Achuthanandan would ease his position and attend the final day of the conference on Monday after party general secretary Prakash Karat requested him to do so on Sunday. With Achuthanandan keeping off the conference but stopping short of drastic decisions, the long-drawn-out battle for supremacy in the party is likely to have yet another quick-fix compromise.
With a new state secretary at the helm, the CPM’s power dynamics could change in Kerala; while Achuthanandan remains the Leader of the Opposition, Vijayan will prepare to lead the party in the Assembly election next year.