A day after the conclusion of the 20th CPI(M) state conference, the re-elected party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan spoke in a way as to hint his arch rival V.S. Achuthanandan yet again breached organisational principles.
Pinarayi was replying to a question regarding Achuthanandan’s comment on “capital punishment,” made at the public meeting held on Friday. “Linking VS’s statement with conference deliberations is a media interpretation. What he actually meant was that the UDF government should not think that by foisting false cases like the land allotment case, they could cow down CPI(M) leaders.”
“The party leaders don’t speak about conference deliberations in public. Do you think that a leader of the stature of Achuthanandan is not aware of such organisational principles?” The state secretary asked the media not to create trouble for Achuthanandan by “misinterpreting” his words at the conference.
Pinarayi's clarification notwithstanding, there is little doubt that Achuthanandan’s attack was targeted at the leadership. “There’s now a campaign, demanding capital punishment to V.S. Achuthanandan.
Please do not try to intimidate. It simply won't wash with us who had braved the worst torture,” was what the veteran leader said at the meeting.
This was seen as an obvious reference to DYFI state president M Swaraj's reported demand at the state conference that the former chief minister should be awarded capital punishment for his alleged anti- party activities.
On Sarojini Balanandan, the state secretary said, “It’s only an emotional reaction. She should not have reacted in that manner, as she has been elected as a delegate to the 20th party congress being held in Kozhikode in April.”
On her allegation that the party was male-dominated and even people elder to her and those with bad health were in the state committee, Pinarayi refused to be drawn in, saying these were the party's organisational matters.
