CPI(M)'s top leadership is expected to take some hard decisions to end the worst-ever factional war in the Kerala unit during the party's two-day Central Committee meeting beginning in New Delhi tomorrow.
All sections in CPI(M) admit that this is a crucial bid to address the factionalism stemming out of the prolonged feud between Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and state Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
But to what extent the party would go to crack the whip in dealing with the two powerful leaders is still in the realm of speculation.
A two-day sitting of the party Polit Bureau last week held exclusively to discuss Kerala issues, had failed to make any headway and left the matter to the Central Committee.
The problem in Kerala has become far more complex after the CPI(M)'s drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls even as it is groping for answers for its dismal performance.
Vijayan figuring as an accused in a graft case pertaining to a deal for renovation of three power projects awarded to Canadian firm SNC Lavalin when he was electricity minister 11 years ago and CBI naming him in its chargesheet could not have come at a worse time.
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The Vijayan camp, which controls the party apparatus, expects that the central leadership would have to consider grim steps including possible removal of Achuthanandan as Chief Minister as well as from Politburo and Central Committee.
Adding fuel to the factional fire, the Vijayan faction is incensed at Achutanandan and his loyalists for defying the party official line to defend the beleaguered Vijayan in the graft case and that too during the Lok Sabha polls.
The Vijayan camp points out that the CPI-M in the state emerged unscathed after throwing out leaders like M V Raghavan and K R Gowry Amma in the past for challenging the party.
According to sources in the Achuthanandan camp, the rival group is not going to realise their wish easily since a good number of Central Committee members are from outside the state and would have no stake in the factional fight in Kerala.
They were expected to take a lenient view towards Achuthanandan as the party is still struggling to overcome the Lok Sabha debacle, the sources said.
Also, they contend that Achuthanandan was not only the senior most leader but was also more popular than his rivals and his sacking as chief minister could grievously hurt the party with the next assembly polls two years away. It would be preceded by three assembly by-elections and state civic polls.
Both Achuthanandan and Vijayan were suspended from the Politburo in 2007 but were taken back six months later after the wrangling subsided.
However, the ceasefire was short-lived with Achuthanandan seizing on the SNC Lavalin case as a weapon against Vijayan, demanding his removal as state secretary.
The Vijayan faction holds that Achuthanandan's defiant stand was one of the factors that contributed to the party's drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls.