Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan has been left to decide by the CPI(M) leadership whether he wants to continue to lead the state or face an expulsion from the party.
In the CPI(M) politburo meeting today, not only the party strongly backed Kerala general secretary Pinarai Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin scam, but also directed Achuthanandan to take part in Vijayan’s ‘Nav Kerala Yatra’, something that Achuthanandan has refused to do so far. When asked about the surety of Achuthanandan’s participation, party general secretary Prakash Karat replied: “Wait and see.”
Interestingly, Achuthanandan wanted to hold a press conference in Delhi at night but after an emissary of Karat met him, he postponed the plan.
Achuthanandan has so far also refused to toe the party line and dub the case as “politically motivated”.
Reacting to the CM’s stand, Karat today made it clear that as a party member the CM has no option but to follow the party line. “As the chief minister, he can explain his stand. But in the party we believe this is a politically motivated case,” he said.
After the meeting of the politburo (attended by both Vijayan and VS), Karat stepped up his offensive in the defence of his Kerala unit chief and said, “There is not even an iota of evidence against Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin case. We are not going to sit quiet. We are studying the charges of the CBI. We will come out with counter-version of the charges.”
