Keystrokes: Congress Vs CPM, Kerala Vs West Bengal

Marxist veteran V S Achuthanandan on Wednesday broke ranks with his fellow comrades from Kerala and backed the West Bengal unit’s demand for an electoral understanding with the Congress for the forthcoming assembly elections. This is not surprising since the 92-year-old veteran is perhaps trying to please the leaders from Bengal and hoping to secure their support in the Politburo and the central committee when the issue of the next chief minister comes up — that is if the party returns to power in Kerala. If VS, known as a hardliner, has preferred practical politics and existential issues over ideology, his comrades from West Bengal are doing the same. They are pitching for a tie up with the Congress as they fear a successive defeat in the assembly elections would spell doom for the party in Bengal. They fear physical as well as organisational annihilation. - See more