THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM politburo on Thursday decided to field both Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan and politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan in the Assembly elections.
The decision was taken by the available politburo comprising general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, S. Ramachandran Pillai and A.K. Padmanabhan. Mr Yechury, who had earlier spoken to politburo members from outside Delhi over phone and sought their views on the issue, presented their opinions before the available PB.
Sources said though Mr Prakash Karat and Mr S. Ramachandran Pillai had expressed certain reservations regarding Mr Achuthanandan’s candidature and also the veteran leader putting conditions for contesting, during the course of discussions both backed the idea of having both VS and Mr Pinarayi in the electoral battle.
The PB had this time taken a conscious decision to avoid any controversy related to Mr Achuthanandan's candidature like what was witnessed during the 2006 and 2011 polls when the veteran leader was initially denied ticket and later under pressure from party rank and file, sympathisers and public was forced to field him in Malampuzha . This time the Palakkad district secretariat also decided to keep the Malampuzha seat vacant while deciding the list of probables for each constituency.
Instead of leaving the decision to the state secretariat and state committee, the CPM politburo decided to clinch the issue at its level. The politburo decision will be placed before the state secretariat on Friday and subsequently before the state committee. Since the decision comes from a higher body, the possibility of any opposition from the state unit is zero.
Mr Yechury will place the politburo decision before the secretariat on Friday. Apart from him, politburo members S. Ramachandran Pillai and Mr Prakash Karat would also attend the meeting. While the CPM central leadership has crossed the first hurdle regarding Mr Achuthanandan’s candidature, the big question is how will the party sort out the issue of leadership ? While the central leadership wants the state unit to decide on who will lead the campaign, it isn’t going to be easy to finalise it.
Many believe that Mr Achuthanandan being the most popular face of the party should lead the campaign to galvanise the cadre and attract voters outside party fold. Projecting both as campaign leaders will not only confuse the cadre but also the public. Moreover, the LDF allies are also keen on having VS as the face of 2016 election campaign.
On the question of the chief minister, the politburo decided that the issue should be decided only after the elections. However, it is learnt that the veteran leader wants some concrete assurance from the central leadership on his role in the event of an LDF victory in elections.
