With the CPI-M state secretariat deciding not to provide VS Achutha-nandan a seat to contest in the coming assembly elections, the Congress led UDF will emerge a clear winner.
While the CPI-M led LDF rule was a misery to the people of the state, there was lot of love and sympathy for the octogenarian Communist leader who was always at logger heads with the CPI-M official faction in the party which has emerged into a multi-headed hydra and singled out the senior most Communist leader in state politics.
Achuthanandan who is considered to be the favourite of the middle class and women alike considered him as their saviour and the CPI-M think tanks seems not to have noticed this fact. However, there are indications that once he is given a seat and if the left front comes back to power then there is no chance of taming the veteran leader who may cross the “Lakshman Rekha” and be a threat to the CPI-M leaders themselves who are involved in several scams and court cases including the party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
The recent news reports which came out against the Muslim League leader P.K.Kunhalikutty which had virtually reopened the decades old Ice Cream Parlour sex scandal case, had put the UDF in the dock and the Muslim League leadership had even accused the Chief Minister and his office for playing politics against the League leader. During those days, to be precise, in the mid weeks of January the
CPI-M and the LDF were smelling victory in the imminent assembly polls, even though the dates were not announced.
However the official faction of the CPI-M feared that Achuthanandan coming back to power or retaining power as Chief Minister of the State would spell doom to several of them and the policies some leaders were practicing and this has virtually sealed the fate of the Chief Minister.
Highly placed sources in the party who were mentally supporting VS Achuthanandan and his candidature while speaking to Organiser on conditions of strict anonymity said that the CPI-M central leadership has connived with the state leadership to show the doors for Achuthanandan. However these leaders argue that the CPI-M central leadership was spineless against the CPI-M state leadership and had bulked under pressure even though leaders like Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury knew the ground realities being faced by the party once Achuthanandan is not leading it from front.
Whatever the difference of opinion with the Chief Minister is party sympathisers and members on conditions of anonymity are of the opinion that given the possibility of a loss glaring in West Bengal, the candidature of VS Achuthanandan was the only ray of hope for the beleaguered party in the state. If Achuthanandan contests the
CPI-M and the LDF could have at least put up a brave fight and the result could somewhere be between a neck and neck finish. With parties like the Kerala Congress (Mani) which is sulking in the UDF willing to play ball (albeit silently) there was a possibility of the CPI-M led LDF retaining power in the state, thus helping the party to maintain its balance in the central or at the national level.
The CPI-M has very few MPs in Parliament and it was crucial for the party to come back to power in the state, the only one where there was a slight hope. Party local cadres and middle level leaders are disappointed over the denial of seat to Achuthanandan and that they are of the opinion that the CPI-M is a political party which is nose diving in Kerala on its popularity graph and that days are not far off wherein CPI-M would well turn out to be a nomadic tale in Kerala.
