The leaf and the thorn will not writhe in pain

By O J George

Kottayam: CPM’s two-day state secretariat concluded yesterday, only for the three-day state committee to begin today.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has directed all concerned to abide by the guidelines issued by the politburo regarding election results review.

The review should not go beyond the election results and there should be no personal attacks against leaders.

Karat was doing a balancing act when he asked the state secretariat to include a bit about the cause of the debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. He found it fit to insert the finding of the politburo that the Lavalin issue and hastily hobnobbing with the PDP had created confusion.

Without this observation, the report prepared by state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan was all accusing fingers against Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan. His style of functioning, his different stance on Lavalin and PDP and apparent irreverence to the faction led by the party secretary were all debilitating factors.

Now Karat has asked Achuthanandan to call an end to the different posturing on Lavalin issue. By now it is clear that Achuthanandan wanted Pinarayi Vijayan to go through court proceedings. But no other leader is prepared to susbscribe to this view.

After the three-day state committee, there would be grand discussions at the politburo and central committee levels, commencing the exercise on June 19. By then, all state units of the CPM would have concluded their discussions.

The threadbare discussions and consequential corrections, if any, would consume the whole year.

And by then, the party machinery at all levels would have to be kept oiled for facing the panchayat elections to be held in Kerala next year.

No doubt, the LDF has equal chance to win in the panchayat and other local bodies’ elections. It would not be like near-total wiping as in the Lok Sabha polls.

Come panchayat elections, and the party would be revived. No heads will roll, all will be hunky dory.