KOZHIKODE: Differences within the CPM over the extended state committee’s approach in the ED move against Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan spilled out into the open on the first day.
While party general secretary M A Baby chose to remain silent on ED, save for a passive reference, state secretary M V Govindan took great pains to explain that the general secretary was actually referring to the ED attack against Pinarayi.
It is clear that the state leadership wants to project the issue to defend Pinarayi. The central leadership is however not keen on the meeting being hijacked by the ED move.
Addressing delegates in the morning, Baby said, “The RSS has been infiltrating military and central investigation agencies. That’s what’s seen in Kerala now.”
In his media briefing, Govindan went to great lengths to explain Baby’s cryptic statement. “The attack by the media and the ED against Pinarayi amounts to attack against the party — that’s what the general secretary said,” he said.
When reporters pointed out that Baby hadn’t mentioned ED, Govindan said there was no need to mention it per se. “Attack against leaders are equivalent to attacks against the party,” he said.
The differences between CPM’s central and state leaderships was made evident in other ways too. While the central leadership has been asking to keep options open for change, the state leadership made it clear that a leadership change is out of the question.