Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 30 (IANS) After close to two decades, factionalism has raised its head again in the Kerala unit of the ruling CPI-M, with various incidents reported from at least four places across the state.
The incidents were reported from Alappuzha, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, and Palakkad.
At Kollam, CPI-M state Secretary M.V.Govindan arrived at the party district headquarters on Saturday and after a long discussion with the local leaders, came out and said “certain undesirable things” had happened here.
“The Karunagapally area committee has been disbanded and an ad hoc committee will now oversee the affairs of the party. They will take the appropriate decisions on what has happened here and actions will be there,” he said.
When Govindan was discussing the issue at Kollam, in Kozhinjapara at Palakkad, a strong group of CPI-M workers opened a new parallel office of the party in the name of the legendary Communist E.M.S. Namboodiripad.
At Thiruvalla in the Pathanamthitta district, things did not appear good for the otherwise disciplined cadre party when a local uprising started giving a headache to the state leadership and a local party meeting had to be stopped due to serious differences of opinion breaking out.
At Alappuzha in Ambalapuzha, two-time State Minister G.Sudhakaran on Saturday found out that he was not invited to the local meeting at the party office, next door to his home.
But CPI-M’s district Secretary R. Nassar said that since Sudhakaran is a senior leader, they invite him to only important events.
Meanwhile, the CPI-M got a shock when one of its hugely popular youth faces in Alappuzha and district panchayat member, Bipin C. Babu joined the BJP.
State BJP President K. Surendran said this is just the beginning and soon there will be many more CPI-M members joining the BJP.
But, Nassar said that Babu had faced party action in the past and “nothing more needs to be looked into his exit”.
The last time this sort of factionalism happened was almost two decades back when present Chief Minister – and then state Secretary – Pinarayi Vijayan headed the very dominant group, while the other faction, though of a minuscule strength, was led by the then Chief Minister V.S.Achuthanandan.
However, a political analyst maintained that what happened between Vijayan and Achuthanandan cannot be equated to what’s happening now.
“At that time, everything rallied around these two towering party leaders. What’s happening now is totally different and if not curtailed, it could lead to serious repercussions as never before has one seen party members marching on the streets and washing dirty linen in public. More importantly, this indiscipline is taking place at the grassroots, which incidentally is the strongest strata in the cadre party,” said the analyst who did not want to be identified.
What has irked the top brass of the state leadership is this is happening when the state party conference is to be held at Kollam early next year and to be followed up by the Party Congress at Madurai in neighbouring Tamil Nadu in April next year.
–IANS
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