Alappuzha, Kerala: The dramatic walkout on Saturday by senior leader and former Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan from CPM's 3-day state conference in Alappuzhabrought ugly schisms in the state unit out in the open.
Kodiyari Balakrishnan was unanimously elected as the new state secretary of the CPM's Kerala unit. Mr Balakrishnan has been seen as a loyalist of Pinarayai Vijayan, the former CPM state secretary who is also Mr Achuthanandan's top political rival within the party.
"There is one seat available (on the state committee). We can decide on it as the need arises. VS Achuthanandan has not attended the conference till now," Mr Balakrishnan said.
VS Achuthanandan, 91,
was upset at the severe criticism he faced at the state conference. An organisational report presented by Pinarayi Vijayan had criticised Mr Achuthanandan for his alleged anti-party stand on several issues like linking the CPI(M) to the murder of rebel leader TP Chandrashekharan in 2012, his support for anti-Kudankulam nuclear plant protesters and also levelling allegations of corruption against Mr Vijayan, who had been cleared by CBI court in November 2013.
Mr Achuthanandan had also written to the central committee of the party criticising the CPM's stand on key issues under Pinarayi Vijayan's leadership since 1998.
After Mr Achuthanandan's boycott, the CPI(M) State Secretariat decided to delete the adverse remarks on him from its final report and is awaiting the decision of the politburo - the party's highest decision-making body.
A defiant VS Achuthanandan has however said in a press release,"I will not return to the CPI(M) state conference. Certain adverse remarks against me have been deleted from the final report, I am sure the politburo will do the rest in its final decision."
VS Achuthanandan, who was removed from the politburo in 2009, now is only part of the CPI(M) central committee.