Relations between the CPI(M) and the CPI hit a new low on Monday with CPI State secretary Pannian Ravindran telling his CPI(M) counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan that if the CPI is guilty of having kept the company of the Congress, the CPI(M) too is guilty of the same crime.
Mr. Ravindran told a news conference here that the CPI(M) would do well not to taunt his party over its past alliance with the Congress as the CPI(M), along with the other Left parties, had done the same during 2004-09 to keep the United Progressive Alliance government in power. The CPI(M), he said, should not forget that it was Somnath Chatterjee, a Central committee member of the party at the time, who had worked overtime to keep the government afloat even after MPs were bought on payment of cash, the CPI leader said.
He took strong exception to the CPI(M) leader’s observations about the late P.K. Vasudevan Nair and said Mr. Vijayan had no business to drag the late veteran’s name into the debate when it was well known that he was one who had sacrificed his position as Chief Minister to ensure that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) became a reality. “You must stop threatening us in the name of our old association with the Congress,” he told the CPI(M) leaders.
Mr. Ravindran said there was no two opinions in his party on the need for Finance Minister K.M. Mani’s resignation and a judicial inquiry into the bar owners’ allegation that they had paid Rs.1 crore as bribe to Mr. Mani to get the bars reopened. Referring to Mr. Vijayan’s statement on Sunday on the issue, he said that, in fact, it was the CPI(M) that was divided three ways on the issue. He wanted to know how the CPI(M) could criticise the CPI over its candidate selection when the party had shown the courage to initiate an internal investigation. The CPI(M) had done nothing of the kind despite a State committee seeking a similar inquiry, he pointed out.
Mr. Ravindran also insisted that the people believed that what the LDF waged was ‘adjustment agitations.’
