Achuta again dares Kerala leadership

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Minister of state for IT and communications Sachin Pilot hands over the key of a scooter, for going to college

The knives are out in the open in the state CPI(M) with Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan challenging the authority of state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, saying “whatever he says is not the party stance”. At a press conference convened here on Saturday to discuss the nurses issue and Palakkad distillery controversy, Mr Achuthanandan took the state by surprise, launching a broadside on Mr Vijayan: “Vijayan’s stand that Onchiyam rebels, including the slain T.P. Chandashekharan, are betrayers and renegades, is not that of the party.”
Mr Vijayan had used an obnoxious epithet, “kulamkuthi” (traitor), while referring to Chandrashekharan and his colleagues of the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP).
Referring to Mr Vijayan’s alleged dictatorial style of functioning, arbitrarily branding ex-comrades, Mr Achuthanandan pointed out: “We don’t have a high command or Shihab Thangal like the Congress and the Muslim League. We discuss all issues at length before formulating the party opinion/stance.”
He rued the expulsion of party workers in Onchiyam, saying the leadership should have discussed issues with them and found an amicable solution.
He cited a parallel between the Onchiyam uprising in 2008 and the revisionist line adopted by S.A. Dange, leading to the split in the united communist party in 1964. “In 1964, when 32 comrades, including me, walked out the CPI national council, opposing the revisionist line and autocratic functioning of party, chairman S.A. Dange, we were dubbed class enemies. But time proved us right.”
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) central leadership kept silent on the feud. The party held a day-long meeting of the available politburo in Delhi. But general secretary Prakash Karat, claimed they did not discuss the issue. “We haven’t discussed the issue,” he said. Politburo member from Kerala S. Ramachandran Pillai also said the meet was “for some other purpose”.