The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday ticked off party veteran V.S. Achuthanandan for speaking out on issues deemed as “decided” by the party’s central leadership. This reprimand falls short of the public censuring doled out to him last year for publicly criticising the party’s State leadership.
Reacting to Mr. Achuthanandan’s televised comments on the SNC-Lavalin case and the party’s drubbing in the 2011 Assembly elections, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau asked him to “desist from making such uncalled for remarks in public.”
Terming his allegations baseless and unwarranted, the Polit Bureau pointed out that the allegations regarding party matters were already decided within.
Mr. Achuthanandan – who was removed from the Polit Bureau in July 2009 for violating “organisational principle and discipline’’ while he was Chief Minister – once again questioned the CPI(M) stance on the Lavalin case in his statements aired by a couple of Malayalam channels.
Further, according to Mr. Achuthanandan, the Kerala unit of the party worked to defeat the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the last Assembly elections just so that he would not become Chief Minister again.
The Leader of the Opposition has had a long-running battle with party State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan against whom the Central Bureau of Investigation has booked a case in the Lavalin deal.
The CPI(M) leadership has time and again maintained that the case against Mr. Vijayan is politically motivated.
“The case against Mr. Vijayan is another instance of misuse of the CBI to foist false case against political opponents,’’ a Central Committee resolution of June 2009 said.
The party has stuck to this position which has repeatedly been challenged by Mr. Achuthanandan.
As for his charge that the CPI(M) had worked for the defeat of the Left parties in the Kerala Assembly elections, party leaders pointed out that the LDF lost by a small margin and the Central Committee had acknowledged the role played by Mr. Achuthanandan in leading the charge against the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
As to whether any further action was being contemplated against Mr. Achuthanandan, party leaders indicated that this would have to wait till December when the Central Committee is scheduled to meet in Agartala.
Mr. Achuthanandan’s latest outburst is being likened to his statements ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections which the CPI(M) identified as one of the reasons for the UDF doing so well.
In its review of the 15th Lok Sabha election results, the CPI(M) attributed the LDF’s poor showing – it came down from 18 to four of the 20 seats in Kerala – to some of Mr. Achuthanandan’s statements.
“Some of the statements of Comrade V.S. Achuthanandan during the campaign had an adverse effect and helped the Opposition campaign.”
