Politburo shows Kerala CM, state chief the door

The two have been fighting in public

In an unprecedented move, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) today warned its two squabbling leaders in Kerala ""Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and state party chief Pinarayi Vijayan "" by suspending them from the party's Politburo.

The decision was taken at the party's two-day Politburo meeting, where the government's failure to arrest the price rise was rated as the "UPA's biggest failure".

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said the Politburo passed a resolution to the effect that "VS Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan were found to have violated the party norms of not airing their differences in public or through media and their behaviour was unacceptable".

Though Achuthanandan and Vijayan would continue to hold their respective positions of chief minister and party chief, observers say it is only a matter of time before both lose their seats. "It is unprecedented in the history of the CPI(M) that such senior leaders have been given such a harsh reprimand,'' an analysts said.

Political circles have already started circulating names of leaders to replace them as the CPI(M) appears to be in a mood to be harsh with indiscipline.

Achuthanandan and Vijayan had been publicly bad-mouthing each other over the demolition of illegal constructions in the tourist town of Munnar. Known to be arch political rivals, the first salvo, this time, was fired by Vijayan, who criticised Achuthanandan for "taking all the credit for demolitions in Munnar".

The chief minister retorted by alluding that the Vijayan camp was leaking stories from party meetings to the media. The war of words went on and both the leaders announced that they would take up the matter in the politburo.

The Munnar demolitions triggered a simmering factionalism, in which Achuthanandan was seen as a "hard-liner favouring reckless demolitions" while Vijayan emerged as a "moderate" supporting restrained action.

However, observers say the suspension of the two leaders will only deepen the factionalism in the party in Kerala.