Achutanandan likely to be out of Chief Ministerial race

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 15 (UNI) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala has reportedly decided not to field party veteran and Opposition Leader V S Achtanandan in the coming Assembly elections, and is likely to project LDF Convenor Paloli Mohammed Kutty as its Chief Ministerial candidate.

The party state secretariat meeting, which ended here today, is learnt to have left out Mr Achutanandan. There are also indications that Former District Panchayat President K V Ramakrishnan would be fielded in Malampuzha, from where Mr Achutanandan contested last time.

Party General Secretary Prakash Karat was also attending the meeting which will finalise the list of candidates and strategies to be adopted in the Assembly elections.

The meeting was dubbed as a crucial one after the Politburew and the Central Committee failed to decide on the top leaders to be fielded for the elections.

The issue was later referred to the state committee to take a decision. It was also decided no politburo member would be contesting the elections.

However, after the politburo and the Central Committee meeting, Mr Karat had announced Mr Achutanandan would lead the party campaign during the polls.

UNI PN GM VD RN1954