The CPI(M) and entire Kerala are waiting to see what nonagenarian Marxist leader VS Achuthanandan, who had boycotted his own party’s State conference in Alappuzha due to differences with the leadership, will say when he attends a programme held as part of the State conference of the CPI in Kottayam this weekend.
Achuthanandan is scheduled to inaugurate a seminar on “Development of Kerala: New Perspective” to be held at the CPI meet on February 28. Sources said the veteran leader, still a member of the central committee of the CPI(M), would participate in the event. The 22nd State conference of the CPI will begin at Kottayam on Thursday and conclude on March 2.
The CPI meet will be the first major programme Achuthanandan, Kerala Assembly’s Opposition leader, is attending after walking out of the CPI(M)’s State conference on February 21 pained by the concerted attacks against him by the State leadership which had gone to the extent of even describing him as a person with “anti-party mentality”.
However, observers do not expect Achuthanandan’s speech at the conference of the CPI, the party he had walked out from in 1964 along with 31 other comrades to found the CPI(M), to contain any sharp criticisms against his party’s leadership as such behavior from his part would be interpreted as further violation of discipline, though there could be some indirect references.
“VS is waiting for a reply from the central leadership for the controversial note he had presented to it describing the alleged fascist tendencies of the Kerala leadership. That response is very crucial to his position in the party if not to his continuance in it. He is unlikely to make comments that could create further controversies,” said a former VS-loyalist.
leaders of the CPI, the second biggest constituent of the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF, has taken particular care to air their support for Achuthanandan whenever he had faced adversities in his own party. Even after he was called a person with anti-party mentality by the CPI(M) leadership, State CPI secretary Pannyan Raveendran had spoken in support of him.
The five-day CPI conference is sure to witness scathing criticisms coming up against the leadership of front leader CPI(M), say observers. Many CPI leaders have questioned the sincerity and efficiency with which the official CPI(M) leadership has been leading the lDF’s agitations against the allegedly corruption-ridden Congress-led UDF Government.
The CPI’s State conference in preparation for the party’s 22nd national congress to be held in Pondicherry from March 25 to 29 is being held at a time when the party is going through a critical period following the controversies concerning the allocation of the Thiruvananthapuram lok Sabha seat in the last election to an outsider.
The issue, which involved allegations of receipt of payment for the allocation of the seat, had seen a virtual implosion in the top leadership of the State. The conference will see Pannyan Raveendran stepping down as State secretary. AITUC leader Kanam Rajendran and former minister KE Ismail are the favourites for the top post.