Taking a stand

On Tuesday, Deshabhimani, a Malayalam daily published by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), carried a report that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was wooing minority leaders in the Congress’ Kerala unit, including Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien. He was upset and conveyed his agony to the CPI-M top brass, including party chief Sitaram Yechury, also a Rajya Sabha member. Other CPI-M members also felt that the newspaper was unfair to Kurien, particularly when, as the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, he was generous in giving time to Left parties to speak in the House. But if the CPI-M leadership thought Deshabhimani would relent and issue a rejoinder, it was wrong. The newspaper carried a follow-up on Wednesday on how the BJP was actively pursuing some in the Congress to leave that party. The only concession it made was to not mention Kurien in the report.