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Rival CPI-M factions in Kerala prepare for war

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Less than a month after the death of EMS Namboodiripad, the rival factions in the Communist party of India-Marxist in Kerala are gearing up for a showdown.

The faction controlled by the Centre for Indian Trade Unions is ready for a major offensive against the rival faction headed by politburo member and Kerala Left Democratic Front convenor V S Achutanandan.

While the CITU group is trying to scuttle what it calls Achutanandan's manouevrings to capture power at the Central Committee meeting, scheduled from April 16 to 18, the faction loyal to the latter is trying to put the CITU leadership in the dock over the setbacks the party suffered in certain seats in the just-concluded Lok Sabha election.

CITU leaders have already submitted a bunch of documents to the Central Committee to support their contention that what had happened at the Palakkad state conference meeting and the party elections, was the result of a brazen conspiracy by the rival faction.

The documents, which are expected to come up for discussion at the Central Committee meeting, say Achutanandan and his supporters had made a deliberate attempt to eliminate several senior CITU leaders from the state committee and the state secretariat, the top decision-making bodies of the party in the state.

It is learnt that both Chief Minister E K Nayanar and the late EMS Namboodiripad had made known their reading of the happenings at Palakkad through separate notes submitted to the politburo. The notes, which have now come before the Central Committee, are said to be supportive of CITU's contention.

The Achutanandan faction, which has gained in strength after the death of Namboodiripad, has set in motion a counter-offensive against the CITU leadership, charging them with anti-party activities during and after elections. The group has unleashed an attack in the reporting sessions, being held at various levels in the party now.

Achutanandan set the ball rolling by accusing the CITU leadership of working independently of the party's mainstream committees during the election. He reportedly told a reporting session at Alappuzha on Sunday that the independent functioning by the trade union panels undermined the efforts by the main party committees to coordinate the campaign, resulting in the defeat of the party candidates in many places.

He said the failure by the trade union panel to work in coordination with the main committees was a major factor behind the setbacks the party had suffered in Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Mukundapuram and the decline in the victory margins of the party nominees at Chirayinkeezh and Ottapalam.

The Alappuzha and Ernakulam district committees of the CPI-M have already initiated inquiries against several top leaders to fix responsibility for the poll debacle. Showcause notices have been issued to former MP T J Anjalose and T K Palani at Alappuzha.

In Ernakulam, the preliminary inquiry is still on against politburo member C Balanandan, Central Committee members M M Lawrence, K N Ravindranath and CITU national secretary V B Cherian.

The Achutanandan faction is also determined to track down the culprits behind the self-styled 'save CPI-M forum' which issued pamphlets during the campaign, running down the former at the Central Committee meetings.

Achutanandan has already warned that the activities of the forum would be treated as anti-party and stern action taken against those behind it. The pamphlets questioned the way the state conference was conducted and the elections held.

Achutanandan is irked by these pamphlets not only because they were highly critical of him but also because they made the party's internal feuds public.

The CPI-M leaders, however, have been maintaining that there was no groupism in the party and what the media termed as groupism was the reflection of ideological differences. But the present goings-on in the party belie these claims and, as far as the common man is concerned, it is nothing but a group war.

CPI-M watchers in Thiruvananthapuram feel that the absence of Namboodiripad will help the Achutanandan faction have its way, since the former had an abiding influence on the party affairs.

Namboodiripad had been using his last few months to bring about a rapprochement between the two groups.

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