The CPI (M) has done it again in Kerala. Like in 2006, it has denied a ticket to Velikkakath Sankaran Achuthanandan (VS).
At the end of a day-long political drama at AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, the CPI(M) state committee dropped VS, 87, the senior most Communist in the country and one of the best chief ministers Kerala has ever produced, from the list of party candidates for the Assembly polls next month.
Though the decision was on expected lines, it came as a rude shock to the rank and file of the party. VS supporters, defying party whip, took out processions across the state.
In Thrissur, in the late hours of Wednesday the two factions — VS and Pinarayi — clashed with each other and police had to intervene. Rallies in party ‘villages’ in the Malabar region like Kayyoor, Kariyad, Chokli and Madikkai were held with workers shouting slogans against Pinarayi Vijayan and Prakash Karat. Posters against the central leadership appeared in Delhi too.
Hopes raised
Though the script to sideline VS was planned more than a year ago, recent corruption charges and allegations against the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders had raised ‘hopes’ for the VS faction. VS was instrumental in bringing these issues to the political limelight.
R Balakrishna Pillai, a prominent UDF leader and former electricity minister is now in jail after being found guilty in the Idamalayar dam construction case. Similarly, Oommen Chandy, the CM candidate of UDF, is also facing vigilance inquiry in the palmolein import case.
PK Kunjalikutty, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader and former industries minister, is facing inquiry in the ice-cream parlour sex scandal.
The CPI (M) think-tank, however, thinks otherwise. They see it as the credit of the party machinery and not that of VS even as the image graph of VS improved and 32 per cent of the participants voted for him as the next CM, bringing even AK Antony to the third spot with 18 per cent votes, in a poll survey conducted by a local TV channel.
Almost six months ago, the going was easy for the UDF as it had a majority of 110 seats out of the total 140 in the local body elections. But, various corruption charges have hit the party and now it is anybody’s game.
Interestingly, as part of the political tactics the UDF leadership made a series of allegations against VS and his son, VA Arunkumar.
2006 revisited
In 2006, VS was denied ticket but faced with strong resistance from the party workers and the also the general public, the Polit Bureau had to give in. VS contested from the Malampuzha constituency in Palakkad district.
This time, though, the state leadership of the CPI(M) is more careful. It has announced Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, home minister and Polit Bureau member, as leader of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the election campaign.
According to sources close to the development, the decision of the state committee is final and no change is expected under ‘any circumstance’. Moreover, the decision to drop VS was taken in the presence of Prakash Karat and S Ramachandran Pillai, another Polit Bureau member. The state leadership does not expect a massive resistance this time.
In fact, it wants to give a clear message that the party is more important than the state’s rule.
During the last five years, VS was not under the control of the party. Many of his actions and statements had troubled the party mechanism and he was also dropped from the Polit Bureau as punishment. The CPI (M) also wants to end factionalism in the party by allowing 'mercy killing' to age-old pragmatism and wants to embrace 'practical' politics.
In all these, the UDF can heave a sigh of relief. Its biggest challenge in the election campaigns was none other than VS. But with CPI (M) itself removing the biggest hurdle, the going seems easy for the UDF.
Meanwhile, VS will not be an active campaigner for LDF this time. The party state leadership says it has denied ticked to VS because of his age and ill health. The VS camp denies this. The state leadership has also included a major chunk of VS aides like S Sharma, K Chandran Pillai, M Chandran and MC Josephine in the candidates list. It looks certain now that even by sacrificing a chance to win the election, the party wants to eliminate the veteran Communist who was instrumental in the vertical split in the Indian Communist movement in 1964.
Nevertheless, the LDF is cashing in on the best performances of the VS government and boasts that the state had progressed well in all walks during the last five years. A number of welfare schemes, including distribution of rice at Rs 2 a kg, forms part of its poll planks.
