It could well be grim days ahead for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) as a series of crucial leadership meetings take place in New Delhi and in the State capital beginning Friday and, as could be expected, all eyes are party veteran and Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan.
The meetings, which might well prove to be a pointer to the way CPI(M) politics moves in the days to come, are primarily meant to discuss the virtual charge sheet that the State CPI(M) leadership has presented before the party Polit Bureau and central committee against Mr. Achuthanandan, and his arguments in defence.
The CPI(M) Polit Bureau will begin its deliberations on the issue at its two-day meeting beginning in Delhi on Friday. The Polit Bureau meeting will be followed by a two-day meeting of the party central committee, to be followed by meetings of the CPI(M) State secretariat and State committee here beginning July 23. The secretariat will meet on July 23 and the party State committee on July 24 and 25. As though in anticipation of some major development, the State CPI(M) has lined up regional party conventions from July 26 to 28 and extensive report lasting almost a fortnight to reach out to every party member. The process will begin with reporting of the Central Committee decisions to district-level functionaries from July 29 to 31 and to functionaries at the branch committee level from August 1 to 4. The following six days will be used to brief the ordinary party members spread across the State.
It is unusual for the party to line up such an intense series of deliberations and reporting and though the State leadership has sought to explain that the reporting at the grassroots are part of the mobilization for the anti-Centre struggle proposed to be unleashed by the party, there are few who take that line at its face value. The organisational build-up is being seen as something intended to contain the fallout of some stern action against Mr. Achuthanandan or some precipitate action that he might take if faced with the sword of party discipline.
The State leadership is keen on action being taken against Mr. Achuthanandan and has marshalled much ‘evidence’ against him. It is pitching for his removal as Leader of the Opposition or, alternatively, his demotion from the Central Committee or worse. Whether the CPI(M) Central leadership would decide to go entirely by the State leadership’s wishes is to be seen, particularly in the light of reports that there is division among the Central leaders about the implications of such a course of action. What he would do in the event of the party taking action against him is also something that worries the central leadership and sections of the party in the State.
Mr. Achuthanandan has, in a sense, been daring the party leadership to initiate action against him, particularly after Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan’s murder.
