The Hindu : Front Page : Strong action unlikely in CPI(M)

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Friday, Jul 21, 2006

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Strong action unlikely in CPI(M)

C. Gouridasan Nair

Crucial three-day State committee meeting of the party to conclude today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the party Central leadership counselling restraint and pitching for more cohesive functioning by the State leadership, it appears that the CPI(M) State committee is unlikely to go in for a massive purge in the party State unit over the happenings in connection with the Malappuram State conference held over a year ago.

From available indications, the CPI(M) national leadership, represented at the three-day State committee meeting that began on Wednesday by party general secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau members Sitaram Yechury, R. Umanath and S. Ramachandran Pillai, has already indicated their opposition to any action that would trigger further factional turbulence in the Kerala party. Although this has not influenced the tone and tenor of the deliberations at the meeting, the general mood in the committee is stated to be against any broad-spectrum disciplinary action that would reopen old wounds and aggravate matters.

Two important items on the agenda before the committee are the report of the committee headed by Central committee member Paloli Mohammed Kutty on factional activities in connection with the Malappuram conference and the report of the committee headed by another Central committee member, P. Karunakaran, on alleged leak of information regarding the conference to the media. The State committee is understood to have witnessed a heated debate on the contents of the two reports besides various other attendant issues. There would certainly be some action against a few individuals on the basis of the findings of the two committees, particularly the latter, but there may not be any attempt to discipline district committees or too many individual leaders at the district level. The Paloli committee had inquired into factional activities by seven district committees and there have been speculative reports on the possibility of action being taken against some of these district committees.

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