VS confirms writing letter to Karat

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In further embarrassment to CPI (M), Marxist stalwart V S Achuthanandan on Monday confirmed that he had written to party general secretary Prakash Karat seeking the intervention of the central leadership in the party affairs in Kerala.


Significantly, Achuthanandan’s confirmation of writing to Karat came hours after his bete noire and state party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan dubbing the reports as "mere media creation."


"I did write the letter. But I do not wish to share its contents with you", the 88-year-old leader told reporters at Kayamkulam in Alappuzha. He declined to say anything when his comment was sought on Pinarayi’s contention that there was no such letter as reported by media.


In his letter, VS had reportedly asked the party's central leadership to recast the state leadership headed by Pinarayi. He was also said to have made it clear he was not interested in continuing as leader of the opposition in the prevailing scenario.



The long-running Pinarayi-VS feud flared up a fortnight ago in the wake of the murder of TP Chandrasekharan, who was expelled from CPI(M) a few years back and floated the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP).


While CPI (M) is under shadow of suspicion with the arrest of some party activists in the case, Achuthanandan has kept on saying the state leadership should have tried to bring back rebels like Chandrasekharan.


While Pinarayi dubbed the rebels as "renegades", Achuthanandan took serious objection to that and accused him of acting like an autocrat.


The latest turn in the long-running feud between the two leaders, pushing the party to its worst crisis in recent times, has come at a time when CPI( M) is locked in a grim assembly bye-election from Neyyattinkara.


The bypoll has been caused by resignation of the assembly seat by R Selvaraj who won in 2011 on a CPI-M ticket. After stunning the party two months ago, Selvaraj is back in the seat as a Congress candidate