A veteran leader on one side and his party on the other, may seem strange, but not for Keralites and the state CPI(M) unit. The state committee that met in the state capital on February 11, has sought the party’s central leadership’s clearance to remove V S Achuthanandan as leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly.
But it may take time for the headline ‘V S to face axe’ to have follow-ups as the central committee will meet only in March end or April. The state committee’s reported recommendation is to take ‘appropriate’ action against Achuthanandan for his outburst against CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and his charge that there was indeed corruption in the SNC-Lavalin Case. The ‘appropriate’ action, which the state unit wants, is to strip him of the ‘Opposition leader post’.
“The common feeling in the state unit is that, though late, some disciplinary action will surely be taken against V S. The party has the feeling that he is misusing the Opposition leader post. So most probably he would be removed and that would be the maximum possible action against him. Dismissing him from the party is out of question,” said a state committee member who preferred anonymity.
But the prominent leaders in the anti V S group were tight lipped and were cautious while commenting on the issue.
“There are issues that can be discussed outside and those that cannot. I do not think that this is the one which should be discussed with the media,” was the response of Politburo member M A Baby MLA. Deputy Opposition leader in the Assembly and politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was more stubborn and said, “Who told that the state committee had made such a recommendation. If the media had reported so it is for the media to discuss it and not for the party men to discuss.”
Achuthanandan, who after an initial response opted to keep silent on the issue continued the same when contacted. His immediate and the only response to the state committee’s recommendation was that “he had more to say on it”. But he never said anything more.
Well what would be V S if not in the office of Opposition leader? Political critiques feel Achuthanandan does not even need the post of a MLA to carry on with his ‘so called’ fights or unleashing criticism on his colleagues. “If he is thrown away from the top post of the party in the Assembly it would give him a license to make sharp comments on his colleagues. He would make use of that to get maximum media coverage. He would then sharpen his current opinion about the state committee that no political discussion is going on there and it is a group of ‘yes men’,” said political observer N M Pierson. “But if he is out of the post he would be disappointed and that would be visible in his gestures as shown by him whenever he faced disciplinary actions. He face was taut when he was suspended from the Polit Bureau and he laughed when the party lost majority in the Assembly elections,” he added.
No one is thinking that the disciplinary action would be so harsh that Achuthanandan would be shown the way out of the party.
The party would not go to the hardest step considering his age and many in the party have the feeling that age is a self defeating factor for him. “Even a section of the party men think that let him say and die and ignore him,” said a political critique. There is also a feeling that the central committee would not remove him from the post of Opposition leader. “Priorities are different for different people. The all India rally of CPI(M) begins on February 24 and ends in March 19. Meanwhile, Union budget would be presented as a political document of the UPA government. The national leadership of the party then would be more focused on the national political situation,” said former MP and former state committee member N N Krishnadas.
Whatever would the decision Achuthanandan would continue utilising the common man’s support and that would be what make the party’s central leadership confused on any step against him.