VS, Pinarayi not to attend CPM district meet

KOCHI: The Ernakulam CPM district conference, where the factions led by Pinarayi Vijayan and V S Achuthanandan are battling it out for an upper hand in the district committee, will not see these stalwarts this time.The VS faction has an upper hand in the district committee, which some leaders see as the reason for the official faction in keeping him away. Previously, either Achuthanandan or Pinarayi  attended the conference, which they had made a platform for taking on each other. The district conferences are being controlled by the two teams led by politburo members Pinarayi Vijayan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. Achuthanandan, who is only a central committee member, has been included in the Pinarayi team. Though Vijayan and Achuthanandan are not participating in the district conference, they had camped in the district many times in the past few months and held discussions with several senior leaders.  Though some leaders point out that there was a deliberate move on the part of the official faction to avoid Achuthanandan, the top leadership points out there is nothing unusual in it. CPM acting district secretary M V Govindan said that the two teams, one led by Pinarayi Vijayan and the other led by Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, would control the conferences. “And here in Ernakulam, we have a team led by Balakrishnan,” he said. State committee member Dinesh Mani also said that it was not a deliberate move. “Kodiyeri is coming here as per the scheduled timetable, there is nothing unusual about it,” he said. CPM state committee member M M Lawrence said it was not possible for everyone to participate in the conferences. “In the party conferences, individuals are not important,” he said and added that the teams were led by politburo members. “Kodiyeri is a PB member whereas Achuthanandan is only a central committee member,” he said.  The VS faction has an upper hand in the existing district committee. Of the 41 members, about 26 are with Achuthanandan. The VS faction has a majority in the district secretariat also. Of the total 19 area committees, Kochi is the lone area committee where the conference could not be held. Though both the factions have almost an equal number of area committees, the VS faction seems to have a slight edge over the other.The team led by Kodiyeri Balakrishnan will participate in the conference with planned decisions and steps to avoid an election. However, the district leadership does not rule out the possibility of an election.