One feels rather sad that V.S. Achuthanandan was not chosen as the new leader of the Left Democratic Front government (Editorial, May 23). Without meaning disrespect to the new incumbent, it must be said, in all fairness, that it was the robust campaign of the nonagenarian leader against rampant corruption under the United Democratic Front and his energetic leadership in the poll campaign that fetched the Left combine its thumping majority. He should have been allowed to take his fight against corruption to a logical end. One must recollect that Jyoti Basu was Chief Minister of West Bengal for 23 years and at a comparably ripe old age. The reasoning of old age and poor health does not apply to ‘VS’.
K.P. Prabhakaran Nair,
Kozhikode
