VS has given the official leadership of the Kerala CPI(M) a nasty jolt by forcefully demanding a CBI investigation into the corruption of Malabar Cements in which former industries minister Elamaram Karim, close to Kerala CPI(M) strongman, Pinarayi Vijayan, is allegedly involved. .

The allegation against Karim, made by a former managing director of the Malabar Cements, is that he had collected a huge amount of money from controversial businessman V. M. Radhakrishnan. The former MD has made the allegation in his confessional statement in a judicial magistrate’s court.

Although CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Karim have alleged a ‘political conspiracy’ in the charge against Karim, VS has said that the report of the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) has found corruption and callousness had cost the company crores of rupees. There have been persistent allegations that Karim was involved in the Malabar Cements graft.

The CBI had earlier concluded that former company secretary, V. Saseendran and his children had committed suicide. There are however reports that it was Saseendran’s anti-corruption stance which had caused the tragedy. The CBI had not probed the corruption angle then; hence there is need for a fresh CBI inquiry in the case, VS has demanded.

VS’s demand is being construed as a tit for tat tactic as the CPI(M) state secretariat had passed a four-page resolution severely criticizing VS and publicised it without taking the central leadership into confidence.

A furious VS has decided to challenge the resolution by writing to the central leadership. It is learnt that Achuthanandan will be sending a detailed reply to the charges made in the resolution to the central leadership.

The VS move has, undoubtedly, put the Kerala leadership in a spot. If it ignores the corruption charges against Karim, it will considerably weaken the party’s present battle against Finance Minister K. M. Mani, who is embroiled in the bar bribery case. Refusal to have a close look into the charges against Karim would also expose the CPI(M)’s double standards in the fight against corruption, it is being pointed out by circles close to VS.

The resolution passed by the state secretariat and its publicising is being construed as a direct defiance of the central leadership. VS supporters say that it is a virtual notice to the new party general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who has a soft corner for VS, that there should no more be any efforts to ‘protect’ VS, and that the Kerala unit is in no mood to put up with VS’s frequent tantrums and ‘anti-party activities’ any longer.

The Pinarayi camp is confident that this time around, it will be a fight to the finish. Pro-VS elements however, scoff at this assertion, saying that a large number of such ‘fights to the finish’ had taken place in the past. In fact, they add that such assertions by the Kerala leadership had now become the butt of many a savoury and unsavoury jokes! Their contention is that, in this case, too, there would be no drastic action against the veteran.

Pro-VS elements assert that the reason why the state CPI(M) leadership is not too keen on taking back parties like the JD(U) and the RSP is that they would back VS in a contest for the Chief Minister’s post should the Left Democratic Front(LDF) wrests power in the assembly elections due next year. It is also a fact that leaders of both the JD(U) and the RSP have excellent relations with VS. Both the parties had left the LDF because of the arrogance of former CPI(M) state secretary, P:inarayi Vijayan and the humiliation heaped by him on the two parties.

Impartial observers say there is an element of truth in the contention of pro-VS elements. Chief Ministership for VS is the last thing that Pinarayi camp wants, and they would do anything to avert such a ‘catastrophe’. So goes the argument.

The battle now shifts to the Centre now as the central committee is meeting in New Delhi on June 6 and 7. And the meeting is expected to discuss not only VS’s so-called breach of discipline but also the propriety of the release of the resolution passed by the CPI(M) state secretariat. It will be watched with keen interest whether the Kerala leadership will get away lightly with such open defiance of the central leadership as it used to do in the past during Prakash Karat’s tenure.

Will Yechury wink at such defiance or will he frown upon the Kerala leadership’s arrogant attempts to put pressure on and belittle the central leaders and hijack the party? That is the million dollar question. (IPA Service)