VS Achuthanandan rides into the sunset

KOZHIKODE: One of the highlights of the organizational report presented in the CPM’s 20th party congress, which concluded on Monday, was that federalist tendencies were growing in the party, with 90% of its membership confined to West Bengal, Kerala, Tripura and a couple of southern states.
The party’s prescription for this was strict adherence to its key dogma of ‘democratic centralism’, but this was ignored in the very first meeting of the newly-elected central committee (CC).The central leadership visibly succumbed to pressure exerted by two powerful state committees to include Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and exclude VS Achuthanandan in the politburo.
Though the I-don’t-care attitude of Budha — he hadn’t even bothered to attend the party congress — had riled the leadership, it didn’t have the guts to upset the Bengal comrades.
Similarly, the leadership which wanted Achuthanandan to be back in the politburu didn’t press the issue when it became apparent that the Kerala unit was strongly opposed to the move.
If this is an indicator, things are not going to change much in the party even after the 20th party congress. There was not much change in faces either. Incumbent general secretary Prakash Karat, 64, will lead the party for three more years. An 87-member CC unanimously elected Karat as general secretary. The 15-member politburo picked by the central committee has three new faces — CITU national president A K Padmanabhan, West Bengal opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra and senior Kerala leader M A Baby.
Karat managed a third term without much opposition as those who wanted him replaced were satisfied with the newly-introduced three-term limit for secretaries. As per the constitutional amendment approved by the party in the latest party congress, Karat will have to step down at the next party congress.
“The 20th party congress has given a call to undertake campaigns for resolving the issues of all sectors of working class like peasants, artisans, small shop keepers and the middle class,” Karat told delegates during the concluding session.