The last laugh and other things

By O J George

Kottayam: It seems the CPM is concerned about the laughter of Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan. Not that the party is worried about the happy-go-lucky face of the old war-horse. But he made a mighty laugh on learning the info that the party stood demolished in the Lok Sabha elections.

Channels are vetting threadbare the body language, the tools of party communication and the like regarding Achuthanandan's last laugh.

The line-up of intellectuals, pro and con, is a mighty scene. Don’t we have anything else to mull over?

We have the hard facts before us. V S Achuthanandan was never the real party choice for chief ministership. Technically, the party made the decision at the eleventh hour to field him in the Assembly elections.

When he won, there was no choice, but to crown him Chief Minister. Then the modus operandi was to bridle him on every conceivable occasion. Even the political secretary and the personal staff assigned by the party have reportedly observed at the party for a that the Chief Minister cannot be depended upon.

The left democractic front has huge majority in the Assembly forum. The party is ruled over by his bete noire Pinarayi Vijayan. All efforts to corner Pinarayi Vijayan in the Lavalin case have failed. The last tool could be the Governor with whom various interests want Pinarayi Vijayan nailed. Governor R S Gavai is also dilly-dallying.

From the clarifications sought by him from the government as well as the CBI, it seems he has not given up the weapon of granting sanction to prosecute the Lavalin accused even as the advocate-general and the state government have said no.

It is a mystery how Achuthanandan survives in the face of this much of opposition for him in the party apparatus. During crucial times,the CPI would come to his rescue. If there is a plea for change of guard of administration, the CPI would oppose it at the LDF.

It is also another hard fact that Achuthanandan cannot continue with his modus operandi, if Pinarayi Vijayan is hunted out through the Lavalin conundrum.

Ultimately, this would end up like a game of one upmanship, without the attacks meeting the target point-blank.