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Most of CPI(M) outgoing MPs to get seats

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 14. The CPI(M) is likely to field most of its outgoing MPs from the State in the coming Lok Sabha poll. The party had nine MPs in the just dissolved Lok Sabha.

The CPI(M) State secretariat and the party State committee have completed their discussions on the subject and have zeroed in on the names of those who would in all probability be fielded in the 14 seats to be contested by the party. The decision of the two party panels should mean that seven out of the nine CPI(M) members in the last Lok Sabha might figure in the party's list of candidates.

The names would now go back to the party district committees for endorsement and would be formally announced thereafter. The CPI(M)-held constituencies likely to see new faces are Kasaragod and Vadakara. The constituencies which the CPI(M) had contested unsuccessfully in the 1999 Lok Sabha election and are likely to see new faces are Manjeri, Mukundapuram, Muvattupuzha, Alappuzha and Mavelikkara. The CPI(M) had lost the Ernakulam seat in the general election, but had wrested it from the Congress in the recently held by-election.

The CPI(M) leadership held discussions on the selection of candidates in the presence of the party general secretary, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, and Politburo members based at the party centre, Prakash Karat, E. Balanandan and S. Ramachandran Pillai. The new faces being considered are mostly youngsters and women leaders.

Action planned

The CPI(M) State committee is almost certain to announce disciplinary action against M. P. Parameswaran, one of the founder-leaders of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), for his controversial stance on ideological issues. The party had taken a critical view of his `Fourth World' theory and asked him to clarify whether he still stood by the theory. Dr. Parameswaran's explanation has not found acceptance with neither the Politburo nor the party State leadership and this has resulted in the move to initiate stern action against him.

The Politburo has also not taken kindly to the manner in which intra-party issues were being handled by the State leadership over the last several months, particularly in relation to the controversy over the People's Plan Campaign and the accusations raised against the party leaders such as T. M. Thomas Isaac by the journal, Padhom.

The party general secretary and Mr. Karat were unsparing in their criticism of the party's State leadership for having allowed matters to drift over the last few months when Padhom went on the offensive against individual party leaders and sowed the seeds of confusion in the minds of party workers. They felt that much confusion could have been avoided if the party State leadership had addressed the issues raised by Padhom without loss of time.

While Mr. Achuthanandan and Mr. Balanandan came in for criticism for having gone public with their criticism of the party leaders, Dr. Isaac came in for criticism for his failure to draw a line between his academic work and his role as a member of the party State secretariat.

Significantly, the Politburo has not found any substance in the allegations relating to Prof. Richard Franke, who had studied the Plan Campaign and co-authored a book on it with Dr. Isaac, and the Mont Claire University in the U.S. raised by Padhom. The journal had accused Prof. Franke of being a CIA agent and the university of being a front organisation of the American intelligence agency.

As expected, the discussion on the subject at both the State secretariat and the State committee were stormy. Mr. Achuthanandan was unsparing in his attack on Dr. Isaac at the State secretariat meeting.

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