CPI(M) meets to discuss Kerala 'disunity’

For the second time in less than five years, the CPI(M) Politburo will discuss the “disunity” among leaders in the party’s Kerala unit when it meets New Delhi next week.

For the second time in less than five years, the CPI(M) Politburo will discuss the “disunity” among leaders in the party’s Kerala unit when it meets New Delhi next week.

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Rattled by infighting -- one of the factors of its defeat at the hustings -- CPI(M) has convened the extraordinary two-day meeting from Saturday only to discuss the issue of Kerala where Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and party state Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan are on a war path.

After CPI(M)’s Central Committee meeting last week, party General Secretary Prakash Karat had said the highest decision- making body had decided that the wranglings must be settled soon.

The unprecedented meeting of the Politburo on July four and five is the second such initiative by the central leadership to bring peace in the Kerala unit. The first such meeting was held on February 13, 2005 in Kolkata.

The Kolkata meeting had come prior to the Malappuram state conference of the party when its “factionalism” was at the peak. The Politburo had then asked both factions led by Achuthanandan and Vijayan to bury the hatchet and work unitedly.