Sulking VS Achuthanandan dropped from CPM state panel

It might not be the end yet, though. The 88-member state committee has left a slot vacant, indicating the party is willing to accommodate VS if he gives in. “We still have hope in this comrade. The party has always considered his views,” said Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, appointed the new state secretary in place of Pinarayi Vijayan. “VS should have attended the state conference,” he said. He said VS could have presented his issues in Sunday’s state secretariat meeting, where six Politburo members from outside Kerala were present. “It is not the communist way to bargain with the party after making a demand,” he said.

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VS was dropped after he rejected a Politburo ultimatum to return to the conference. Central leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury had telephoned him with that request. Sources said both had assured him the state secretariat resolution against him would be reviewed by the central committee and Politburo. His aides and even members of his family requested him not to squander the face-saving chance he was being offered. But he was adamant.

If the leadership has been hesitant to sack VS from the party despite breach after breach of discipline, as well as rebellion, it was solely because of his claim to be a crowd-puller. But on Monday, by holding a massive meeting to mark the conclusion of the conference in Alappuzha, VS’s hometown, the CPM sent out a message that the party can manage without the individual. It was the first time since the party was formed that it was holding such an event without the presence of the veteran.

For once, several leaders and party workers were heard openly criticising VS. There was no voice of support for him from anywhere in Kerala this time, as had happened in 2006 and 2011 when he had been denied assembly seats.

After being removed from the state committee, all that remains for VS to hang on to is the post of Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition. Even his central committee membership will depend on a decision by the next party congress.

The party can easily give that post to another Politburo member, M A Baby. Another choice can be Vijayan now that he has exited as state secretary. He can win a by-election from Thalassery, currently held by Balakrishnan, who can resign citing his new responsibilities as state secretary. If Vijayan wins Thalassery without VS as star campaigner, it will allow Vijayan to lead opposition agitations and give him a launchpad for the 2016 elections.