THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Finally, the smile is back on the face of V S Achuthanandan. True to his unpredictable character, VS cancelled his air ticket to Kerala on the morning flight and returned to the CPM party Congress venue at Visakhapatnam to share the joy on triumph with his favourite Sitaram Yechury who stood firm in the fight till the last moment to overcome the formidable challenge from the Kerala fraction, to become the fifth general secretary of the CPM.
It was utter confusion till midnight on Saturday as the politburo which met to arrive at an understanding on the new general secretary failed to arrive at a final decision.
As expected, the formidable Kerala fraction represented by politburo members Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Pinarayi Vijayan, M A Baby, CITU president M K Padmanabhan mounted pressure on the outgoing general secretary Prakash Karat to suggest the name of S Ramachandran Pillai (SRP) as the next general secretary.
However, Sitaram Yechury was adamant on his claim to the top post. As the members were divided on their stand, eight members favoured SRP and five Yechury.
As SRP too remained adamant, the matters seemed to be going out of hand for Yechury. However, the matter had to be decided in the central committee. When the issue came up before the central committee, it was a sudden turnaround in favour of Yechury.
As majority of the central committee members favoured Yechury as the new general secretary, even the Kerala fraction which had been remaining like a rock behind Karat started losing confidence which ultimately led to even a section of Kerala fraction shifting their stand in favour for Yechury.
It was enough for SRP to feel the pulse and in true communist tradition SRP decided not to press for a contest. In case of a contest, it would have been a disastrous outcome for the hitherto strong Karat and Pinarayi lobby which had been reigning supreme for over a decade.
As the outcome came out in favour, VS like a winner returned to the venue after cancelling the air ticket to Kerala in a morning flight.
His offering felicitation to Yechury on Saturday wishing him success had created ripples as it was unprecedented act in a communist party to wish anyone to become general secretary and Yechury acknowledging in the open that he was a candidate for the post.
This bizarre act had irked even SRP to state that it was not usual in the party to wish any person to become the general secretary.
However, the end result has given ample reasons for V S Achuthanandan to have the last laugh.
Though he was removed from the central committee, V S Achuthanadan has been retained as an invitee to the committee.
Moreover, his one-time confidant P K Gurudasan has been retained in the central committee though he is on the verge of turning 80 years of age. VS had asked Gurudasan to be retained in the central committee.
A K Balan and Elamaram Kareem, who have been elected to the 91-member central committee, are known loyalists of Pinarayi Vijayan.
But the fact that the state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has nothing personal against V S Achuthanadan and the latter had been in good terms with the new state secretary is giving VS more confidence to remain strong in the party at the age of 90 years. On the other side, his detractor Pinarayi Vijayan cannot force Yechury or Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to make it further difficult for VS.