Friday, December 7, 2012

Split left, right & centre!

CPI (M) is caught in an unsavoury fight over corruption in Kerala

Ghosts of a major scam have come to haunt the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala. Party’s state chief Pinarayi Vijayan is accused of financial misconduct in the Rs.3.33 billion contract awarded to a Canadian firm SNC Lavlin to upgrade the state’s three hydro-electric power stations during his tenure as Energy Minister of Kerala 12 years ago. The case was handed over to the CBI on orders of the Kerala High Court and the incumbent CM VS Achutanandan, known for his clean and uncompromising image, has sanctioned the prosecution of his party colleague, Vijayan. It is no secret that the two leaders have been at logger heads for a long time – so much so that both had been suspended from CPI(M)’s apex policy making body, the politburo last year. The latest controversy hasn’t helped the party’s cause a bit. The issue has vertically divided the party with Achutanandan claiming to fight corruption at every level and Vijayan claiming to be a victim of political conspiracy.

Things got so hot that the CPI(M) secretary general Prakash Karat himself had to broker a truce – with polit buro ratifying Vijayan’s conspiracy theory while issuing gang orders on Achutanandan. Citing CBI’s stringent indictment by the Supreme Court for frequently changing stance in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s disproportionate assets (DA) case, Karat said, “The Central government is fabricating a case against Vijayan only as a vendetta against our decision to withdraw support to it in wake of Indo-US nuclear deal. Looks like, the government hasn’t learnt from the court’s strictures against it in the Mulayam Singh case”.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

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