A livid VS is learnt to have sent a dissenting note to the Central leadership, which amounts to a virtual ‘charge-sheet’ against CPI(M) State secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan. Achuthanandan has squarely blamed the official leadership of the Kerala unit for the present plight the party. The dictatorial style of functioning of Pinarayi and the rightist deviation under his stewardship have ruined the Kerala unit of the CPI(M), the note alleges.

Achuthanandan sent the note to the Central Committee after it was rejected by the State secretariat where Vijayan enjoys a brute majority. The official leadership has also decided not to discuss the dissenting note at the four-day State conference, scheduled to start from 20 February in Alappuzha, VS’s home district.

The VS note is obviously in retaliation to the stringent criticism against him in the working report to be presented to the State conference. The report is understood to have devoted as many as 30 pages to attack VS, pinning the entire blame on him for the weakened state of the Kerala CPI(M).

VS has, however, strongly rebutted the criticism. Putting the blame at his doors for the party’s present state is nothing but an exercise in running away from the ground realities. It is learnt that the note was leaked so that the people at large can reach their own conclusions about the various acts of omission and commission of the party leadership.

VS has accused Vijayan of being solely responsible for the unsatisfactory performance of the LDF in the Lok Sabha elections. It was Vijayan’s dictatorial style of functioning which caused the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) to severe its 33-year-old association with the LDF and cross over to the Congress-led UDF. If only the party leadership had given the Kollam seat to the RSP, the LDF would have won at least two more seats – Kollam and Mavelikkara - the note claims.

VS has also questioned Vijayan’s stance in defending two of the party leaders who have been jailed in the TP Chandrashekharan murder case. The note avers that this was done to prevent them from coming out with embarrassing and damaging disclosures against the state leadership.

Again, the manner in which the agitation against the solar scam was withdrawn has also drawn strong flak from VS. Although all the secretariat members were present in the state capital, the party secretary chose not to discuss the issue with them and took a unilateral decision to call off the siege! The decision badly dented the credibility of the State CPI(M), making it a laughing stock in the process, the note says.

An embarrassed central leadership has decided to ignore the dissenting note for the time being amid reports that it may be taken up at a later stage by the Politburo.

But the fact remains that any attempt to ignore the issues VS has raised in the dissenting note can only further weaken the party. There is a lot of substance in the issues the veteran has taken up. For instance, he is right in claiming that the CPI(M)’s Lok Sabha poll performance would have been better if the RSP had not left the LDF.

Again, the rightist deviations VS talks about - allowing communal elements who broke away from the BJP in Kannur - to enter the party have also harmed the party. This is in sharp contrast to the arrogant indifference to the repeated requests of parties like the Indian National League (INL) and the All India Forward Bloc, which have stood by the LDF through thick and thin, for admission to the Front.

The timing of the dissenting note is also significant. VS has shot it off just two days before the start of the party’s state conference. The VS move is being interpreted as a determined attempt by the stalwart to avert his removal as the leader of the opposition position and as a member of the Central Committee – two of the long-standing demands of the Vijayan camp. Speculation has been rife about such a possibility for the last few days. The VS ‘time bomb’ has also dashed the hopes of the official leadership to ensure smooth sailing at the State conference.

Whatever the outcome, by firing another broadside against the state leadership, VS has again set himself on the confrontationist path. It can only deepen the intra-party conflict in the coming days with unpredictable consequences for the party and the LDF led by it.

The conference will see the exit of Vijayan and the election of a new state secretary. Unless there is a last minute surprise Kodiyeri Balakrishnan will be the new helmsman. There is also a move to fix the age limit for the state committee members at 80. That will keep VS out. If the move materialises, it will be a parting shot from Vijayan to VS. (IPA Service)