Just when the Congress in Kerala was sitting wrapped in euphoria after the RSP left the left camp and joined the UDF it was leading, a major section of the Communist Marxist Party (CMP) of former Marxist leader MV Raghavan on Saturday decided to end the relationship and cooperate with the CPI(M)-led lDF. The CMP had been a UDF partner for the past 25 years.
Coming within two months of the JSS of former Marxist firebrand KR Gowri quitting the UDF, the departure of the major CMP group is certain to affect the prospects of UDF candidates in several constituencies in the lok Sabha election to a great extent. The CPI(M) welcomed the CMP group’s decision and said it could cooperate with the left in the election.
A meeting of CMP central council members belonging to the faction led by acting general secretary KR Aravindakshan, held at Thrissur on Saturday, decided to leave the UDF protesting the Congress’s practice of showering favours on the group led by Planning Board member CP John as part of an alleged strategy to finish off the party politically.
“The Congress has been playing a foul game of promoting only people from a section in the CMP. As we are fed up with that divide-and-rule strategy, we have decided to leave the UDF,” said Aravindakshan after the meeting in Thrissur. “As it is difficult to survive in Kerala politics without allying with either of the two fronts, we have decided to work with the lDF,” he said.
Party Politbureau member MK Kannan claimed that majority of the party members and activists had supported the decision. He said 80 of the 131 central council members and seven out of the nine Politbureau members had participated in the meeting, a claim CP John did not contradict. Kannan also said they had taken the decision after discussions with Raghavan.
Feud had been brewing in the CMP for the past several months since 81-year-old party supremo MV Raghavan (MVR) got bed-ridden due to age-related health complications. Raghavan had founded the CMP in 1987 after he was expelled from the CPI(M) for locking horns with Marxist guru EM Sankaran Namboodirippad (EMS) over ideological issues the previous year .
Welcoming the CMP faction’s decision to end the relationship with the Congress, State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said the lDF would allow them to cooperate with the front in the election campaign. He said the decision to welcome the CMP faction as taken after detailed discussions with other constituents of the coalition.
“It is plain betrayal by a faction and there has been a very mysterious conspiracy behind their move,” said CP John in response to the other faction’s announcement. “The CPI(M) may want this to overcome the setback caused by the RSP’s exit. But what Aravindakshan has done is to go with the CPI(M) which had made many attempts to kill MVR,” he said.
The CPI(M) was accused of making several attempts at MVR’s life after five DYFI activists were killed when the police opened fire on a crowd of protesting DYFI workers at Koothuparamba, Kannur where he had reached as then Cooperation Minister of the UDF for an inauguration on November 25, 1994.
However, the CMP faction’s decision to ally with the lDF is a shot in the arm for the CPI(M), especially after the departure of the RSP from the left fold. last week, KR Gowri, who was expelled from the CPI(M) two decades ago, had appeared at an lDF election convention in Alappuzha as part of the JSS decision to cooperate with the lDF.
