VS, Pinarayi behave after expulsion

NEW DELHI: A day after the CPM polit bureau showed the door to two of its members for openly indulging in a war of words, both V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan adopted the tone of disciplined soldiers of the party. While the two suspended Marxists acknowledged violating party norms, the AKG centre here made it clear that it had no intention of sending a new chief minister to the state at this juncture.

Mr Achuthanandan, who continues as chief minister, admitted it was a mistake to express differences through the media and equated the polit bureau’s action to suspend them to children being punished when they go wrong.

“The party is like a parent or a teacher who will punish their children when they commit mistakes. It is part of the correction process. We wholeheartedly support the party decision,” he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. He also said it was for the party to lead partymen in the right direction.

In Kasargod, Mr Vijayan said the polit bureau’s action was a lesson for everyone. Though he admitted that it had personally hurt him, he said it had enhanced the party’s prestige.

While the party seems to have restablished its authority, the silence on part of the two feuding comrades could be the lull before the storm. Party general secretary Prakash Karat is expected to explain the reasons for the suspensions at the state secretariat meeting in Kerala later this week.

That the party is in no mood to take the issue further is clear from its intention to allow the popular Mr Achuthanandan to continue as chief minister. A polit bureau member said the suspension was a “correction process” for violating party norms and not a reflection of governance in the state.

The polit bureau is hopeful that the decision would help it resolve the severe factionalism in the state. The issue will be taken up at the meeting of the party central committee from June 24 to 26.

The central committee, in which 12 of the 84 members are from Kerala, has the power to revoke or intensify the punishment, though the highest decision making body of the party has never reversed the polit bureau’s decision so far.

This is the first time that the party has suspended two of its polit bureau members on grounds of factionalism. Earlier, the party has excluded members for political reasons. The party reconstitutes its polit bureau in the party congress, which is due next year.

The feud between Mr Achuthanandan and Mr Vijayan intensified last week over the Munnar encroachments and the polit bureau’s decision was triggered by the subsequent public spat.