KOLLAM: The RSP (Baby John) has taken the initiative to capitalise on the confusion prevailing in the official RSP over the denial of Kollam Lok Sabha seat.
The party has constituted a four-member panel for bringing unity in the party. RSP (Baby John) general secretary Shibu Baby John, Adv K.R.Kurup, Chavara Vasu Pillai and G.N.Potti are the members of the panel.
Except Shibu, all the others are senior most members of the undivided RSP. Kurup, hailing from Ernakulam, was the state secretariat member of the undivided RSP, and Vasu Pillai and Potti were the state committee members of the undivided party.
They will take the initiative to reunify the party under the UDF umbrella.
Shibu told `Express’ that the panel members would soon hold discussions with the second rung leaders of the official RSP.
What provoked the RSP (Baby John) to take such an initiative is the disenchantment of the rank and file of the official RSP with the leadership of the party.
In the meeting of the district committee of the RSP held two days ago, all those who participated in the deliberations had urged the leadership to review its relations with the LDF.
They were all very much agitated over the approach of the CPM towards the party. The RSP is not getting due considerations from the CPM, while the PDP of Madhani, which is not even a constituent of the LDF, is getting it, they pointed out.
The RSP leaders, including A.A.Azeez MLA, who participated in the discussions have pointed out the glorious period of the party while it was a partner of the Congress-led front in the 1970s. The party had won 9 seats in the State Assembly out of the 14 it had contested and had two ministers in the Cabinet and had two MPs from Kollam and the then Ambalappuzha Lok Sabha constituencies, it was pointed out.
The party had also a member in the Rajya Sabha. The party suffered only losses since it joined the LDF in the name of Left unity, the meeting opined.
All these discussions took place in the presence of state secretary V.P.Ramakrishna Pillai and Minister N.K.Premachandran, who, in turn, never tried to dissuade the members from airing their views.
RSP (Baby John) state secretary Shibu Baby John said that the glorious period of the RSP was the period when it cooperated with the Congress from 1969 to 1979. The CPM interventions in the internal party affairs of the party in 1999 created a situation for a split in the party. The RSP was formed as a corrective force to the undivided Communist party. The policies being pursued by the CPM are encouraging the communal fascist forces. The LDF has mired itself in the swamp of corruption, he said.
He urged the official RSP to break its relations with the CPM by considering the aspirations of the party rank and file.
It is also noteworthy that the RSP in Kerala had broken its relations with the central leadership during the 1970s, to join hands with the Congress.