By IANS
Kottayam : Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s wings were further clipped Thursday as his arch foe Pinarayi Viajayan was re-elected secretary of the state Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for the fourth time in a row.
Vijayan also wrested near absolute control over the party apparatus by getting an overwhelming number of his supporters elected to the party’s 85-member state committee on the last day of the CPI-M Kerala unit’s triennial conference.
There seemed to be no end to Achuthanandan’s woes as CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat, who was believed to be his strong backer, did not come to his rescue at the party meet when he came under severe attack.
The octogenarian chief minister reportedly met Karat in his hotel room Wednesday night to convey his unhappiness over the attack on him during the discussion on Vijayan’s report on the functioning of the party.
However, Karat as well Vijayan warned in their speeches at the conference that factionalism would no longer be tolerated; and if it continues they would not hesitate to take drastic steps.
Vijayan’s victory was a foregone conclusion because a huge majority of the 561 delegates to the party conference belonged to his group, known as the ‘official faction’ in the party.
Vijayan became the state secretary for the first time in 1998 when then secretary Chadyan Govindan passed away. He got elected to the post in 2001 at the Kannur conference and for the third time in 2004 at Malappuram.
Choosing the party state committee of around 80 members is chosen is usually a unanimous exercise. But at the last conference at Malappuram in 2004, Achuthanandan insisted on his own candidates, necessitating an election. It proved disastrous, with only 20 of his supporters getting elected.
The bitter differences within the party resulted in CPI-M politburo issuing a special guideline for the just concluded organisational elections in the state.
The conference has ended the way it was planned by the ‘official faction’ — Viajayan should continue his 10-year run as the party chief for the next three years too.
As of now the 83-year-old Achuthanandan would continue to head the government. The question for how long may soon dominate the CPI-M in the state.