Even as the Central leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] on Friday maintained that the Kerala unit was well within its rights to issue a statement on party veteran V.S. Achuthanandan, the escalation of factionalism is worrying as it comes in an election year; not just at the panchayat level but also for the Assembly in 2016.
‘‘It is a State matter and the State unit can decide on it,’’ said a CPI(M) Central leader amid reports in Malayalam television channels that the Kerala unit had not kept the Central leadership in the loop before issuing a four-page statement on Thursday listing all the times Mr. Achuthanandan had breached party discipline in the past.
This was the second statement this week reprimanding Mr. Achuthanandan; the first was issued by the Polit Bureau on Monday in the wake of the former Chief Minister blaming the Central and State leadership of the past decade for the electoral failings of the CPI(M).
In a televised statement, he also took upon himself the task of bringing back to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala the smaller Left/socialist parties which had moved away owing to poor handling of coalition partners by the then State leadership.
After the Polit Bureau’s reprimand, Mr. Achuthanandan did not back down and maintained that he had been misunderstood.