VS Achuthanandan eased out of seminar to ensure no-offence to K M Mani

By- B. SreejanKOCHI: When K M Mani walks into the venue of seminar organised as part of the CPM state conference on Friday, the dais will be free of V S Achuthanandan, his strongest critic in the party. The organisers who had invited VS to inaugurate the seminar ‘Kerala: Yesterday, today and tomorrow’ changed the plan in the last minute to ensure that Mani is not offended. Instead, PB member S Ramachandran Pillai will inaugurate the seminar at 5pm at Thekkinkad ground.
Sources said the decision to keep VS out of the seminar was taken after the veteran wrote to the CPM central leadership warning against the proposed alliance with Mani. To avoid controversies over the decision, VS has been invited to inaugurate the seminar on neoliberal policies on Saturday.
The only critic Mani will have to face at the forum will be CPI state secretary

Kanam Rajendran

, another invitee. In 2013, when CPM organised their plenum in Palakkad, Mani was extended an invite to be part of a similar seminar. The justification that it was a friendly gesture would have had takers as the bar bribery case and LDF’s fiery protest against Mani happened later. The district conferences in Kottayam, Idukki and

Pathanamthitta

had urged the CPM leadership to include KC(M) in the Left fold.

A development in the Supreme Court on Friday will also be crucial in deciding the fate of Mani’s relationship with the LDF. A petition seeking CBI probe into the bar bribery case will be considered by a division bench comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R Bhanumathi on Friday.

If the SC dismisses the petition, there will be a green signal from CM Pinarayi Vijayan to the vigilance for closing the bar bribery case at the earliest. Mani, who was probed and acquitted, will surely be a saint for CPM even if the CPI refuses to acknowledge it.