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The official faction of the Communist Party of India-Marxist which has been locking horns with the state Chief Minister and the veteran leader of the party V S Achuthanandan is likely to up its ante for his expulsion from the party.
Sources close to the party official faction told rediff.com that there are clear moves on the the faction close to the
party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan to move the CM out of the party citing his anti party activities including his open comments in the controversial graft case regarding the multi crore SNC Lavalin case in which the party secretary is an accused.
The CPM leadership is of the opinion that many of the comments made by the Chief Minister has totally been in deviation to the discipline of the party and the influential coterie in the party led by Pinarayi Vijayan has been trying to frame charges against the octogenarian leader.
Sources indicated that he may be removed from the chief ministership and then make the way for the expulsion. The CPM official faction is also in the process of making out a charge sheet against the CM citing his connections with the rebels who were expelled from the party and there are even indications that the charge sheet will contain materials with clear proofs of the Chief Minister's contacts with the expelled party leaders.
There are also clear signals of the CPM party machinery of not having properly worked during the elections and political observers are of the opinion that the party secretary had in the run up to the elections told the press persons that the elections would be a pointer to the performance of the LDF government under Achuthanandan. Sources indicated that the party secretary was furious at the manner in which the veteran leader had told the press on the Lavalin case and the CM's reluctance to participate in the Navakerala yatra taken out by the party secretary before the elections .
With the CPM and the Left Front expecting a drubbing in the elections all eyes will be at the AKG centre , the party headquarters in the state and political observers points out that the calm before the storm is evident in the party headquarters .
The CPI-M central leadership has also now shifted stands with the official faction of the party and as a senior leader of the state CPI-M jokingly remarked, the CPI-M national leadership is sustained by the feedings from the party ruled states like Bengal and Kerala, there is no point by which the national leadership would oppose a decision taken by the state unit of the party which has a tremendous majority when compared to the support to Achuthanandan which is waning by the day.
With Achuthanandan's expulsion a mere formality the cynosure of all eyes will be on his successor and the possibilities of a bitter power struggle in the red party of the state is in the cards with the party Politbureu member and the state home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan topping the list of the probables .