Kerala CM left out of EMS centenary bash

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan is a lonely man these days. Not only is the CPI(M) sidelining him, but now he has also been left out of the grand birth centenary celebrations of legendary Marxist E.M.S. Namboodiripad.

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan is a lonely man these days. Not only is the CPI(M) sidelining him, but now he has also been left out of the grand birth centenary celebrations of legendary Marxist E.M.S. Namboodiripad.

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The speakers’ list at the two-day event, which began on Saturday, includes who’s who of the CPI(M), except Achuthanandan.

Organisers, mostly belonging to the official faction led by Achuthanandan’s arch rival and party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan — an accused in the SNC Lavalin case — said the CM is busy with his official engagement so he couldn’t make it. Sources close to the CM’s office, however, admit that he wasn’t invited.

Party general secretary Prakash Karat is in Malappuram for the celebrations.

The uneasy relations between the CM and Vijayan worsened after Governor R S Gavai gave the CBI the go-ahead to prosecute the latter in the Lavalin case.