CPI(M) refuses to change stand on Achuthanandan

New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) The chances of veteran Marxist leader V S Achuthanandan contesting the April-May Kerala assembly elections evaporated today with the CPI(M) deciding to stick to its decision against allowing any of its Polit Bureau members to join the electoral battle.

This means that the party would go by its decision to project LDF convener Paloli Mohammed Kutty as the prospective Chief Ministerial candidate and the two key leaders Achuthanandan and Party State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan will not be there in the fray for the assembly poll.

An emergency meeting of the Polit Bureau, the fourth in the last 12 days, today deliberated only the party issues in Kerala where the official group led by Vijayan had dropped Leader of Opposition Achuthanandan from the list of candidates, sparking off protests among a section among the party cadres. It was against this background that the PB convened today's meeting despite the inconvenience expressed by members from West Bengal in view of the serious health condition of State Secretary Anil Biswas.

Veteran Marxist leader and former General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet was there in the meeting throughout the meeting despite his ill health.

After a seven-hour-long meeting, in two sessions, the party leadership did not say what exactly was the decision it had taken regarding the 80-year-old Achuthanandan, who along with Mr Vijayan attended today's meeting.

However, General Secretary Prakash Karat has released a brief two-para statement saying that "the Polit Bureau will meet the Secretariat and State Committee of Kerala on March 24 to ensure that the Party's decisions are fully implemented." The statement also said : "The Polit Bureau took stock of the situation in Kerala in connection with the forthcoming assembly election. The PB discussed how the party should unitedly face the election so that the LDF can be victorious." When contacted, Mr Karat told UNI that no crisis existed regarding Kerala party affairs.

He did not give a direct reply when asked if the crisis had blown over even as the Left leaders were worried over the growing factionalism in the CPI(M) which they say, if continued, would mar the prospects of the LDF in Kerala.

Party insiders said the decision of the PB to sit in a joint meeting with the State Committee and the State Secretariat on March 24 was only to ask them to accept in toto the decision taken earlier.

The meeting on March 24 is expected to request Mr Achuthanandan to change his decision against campaigning and bringing in unity among the warring groups before the announcement of the list of candidates, expected on March 25.

UNI KSA RP BD2041