"The politburo has not taken any such decision. We have not discussed the issue. Reports contrary to that are false," CPI-M politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai told mediapersons in New Delhi. His comments came against the backdrop of a section of the media reporting that the politburo decided to censure the CM on the contentious lottery issue in the state. Achutanandan had come under sharp attack from his detractors for approaching the Centre for a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the operation of lotteries from outside the state involving thousands of crores of rupees.
The 85-year-old Marxist was demoted midway during his tenure from the politburo to the central committee for openly airing his views on the SNC-Lavalin case in which CPI-M state secretary and politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan is an accused. The case relates to alleged irregularities in some power projects when Vijayan was the energy minister. He was earlier censured for his views against receiving loans by the state in 2007, which was contrary to the stand taken by the party. Achuthanandan was also suspended from the politburo the same year for an open verbal fight against Vijayan on party issues.
