VS Achuthanandan has missed the bus," said a senior CPI(M) leader ahead of the Politburo meeting on Tuesday, which is expected to take a call on chief ministerial candidate for Kerala polls. |
Many partymen here share this opinion about the fate of the veteran leader from Kerala, who has been so-near-and-yet-so-far from the chief ministerial chair, during the past 15 years. |
For him, it has been a heartbreaking experience. In 1991, he was projected as chief minister, but the Left lost. In 1996, he was again a chief ministerial candidate. The party won, but the alliance lost. In 2001, he won, but the LDF lost. |
In 2006, when the LDF appears to be set to return to power, it is not the fate that has done the octogenarian leader in. Just when he looked like the undisputed contender for the post, his rival Pinarayi Vijayan, who was forced out of the race due to the alleged Lavalin scam, got the state committee and the secretariat to deny him the ticket. |
But a section of party leaders believes Achuthanandan may not have missed the bus yet. Angry outbursts from his supporters has forced the central leadership to re-think. The Politburo can overturn the state committee's decision. |
Achuthanandan is not a pushover. In leading an anti-Coca Cola campaign and raising various issues both in the Assembly and on the streets, he has shown that age has not doused the fire in him yet. |
He is perceived as one of the last among the "old hardliners" in the CPI(M), in which "reformists" like Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Vijayan call the shots nowadays. |
The magnitude of protests by the students' wing of the party, trade unions and other old warriors against the denial of ticket to Achuthanandan, shows that he still commands a sizeable following in the state unit. |
So, when the Politburo meets here on Tuesday, the leadership is sure to look for a compromise formula to prevent LDF's fortunes from taking a hit. |