The Hindu : Kerala News : Factionalism a non-issue: Viswan

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Kerala

Factionalism a non-issue: Viswan

Staff Reporter

Says Kerala unit is the largest State unit

Says party has overcome weaknesses
Says CPI(M) has extended influence to newer areas

KOTTAYAM: The CPI(M) has gained in strength in the State and succeeded to a fairly large extent in overcoming problems arising from factionalism, LDF convener Vaikom Viswan said here on Tuesday.

Briefing mediapersons about the deliberations on the second day of the ongoing CPI(M) State conference, Mr. Viswan said that despite media reports about intense factionalism in the party, the CPI(M) had extended its influence to newer areas and added to its membership.

The current membership of the party stood at 3,36,644, marking an increase of 20,339 members after the last State conference in Malappuram three years ago and making the Kerala CPI(M) the largest State unit of the party.

The party added 1,743 new branches and 145 new local committees during the period. Among the members, 11.30 per cent were women and 14.97 per cent Scheduled Castes.

The share of Scheduled Tribes in the party was abysmally low at 0.9 per cent.

The membership of class and mass organisations of the party had gone up by around 20 lakh during the period, he added.

Mr. Viswan said the report presented to the conference by party State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday saw the LDF’s victory in the May 2006 Assembly election as the outcome of interventions made by V.S. Achuthanandan as leader of the Opposition and the ‘Kerala March’ taken out by Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan against the ‘anti-people’ policies of the UDF government.

The report, he said, also was appreciative of the policies implemented by the LDF government in place of the ‘anti-people’ policies of the UDF government.

Reacting to a question, Mr. Viswan said: “There were certain weaknesses in the party connected with factionalism during the Malappuram meet. The party has survived such weakness and is moving forward.”

Referring to the anti-encroachment drive in Munnar, Mr. Viswan said the party had a studied stand on the issue which was that but for certain failures, the drive was successful. These failures, he said, were on the part of the implementing officials.

“The government is moving ahead rectifying such minor failures,” he added.

The secretary’s report, he said, pointed to the successful awareness campaign taken up by the party against globalisation and was of the view that the party campaigns during the past three years helped the party to reach out to more sections of society.

Nearly 20 per cent of the party members currently belonged to minority communities. “There is a considerable increase in the number of members belonging to the Christian community,” Mr. Viswan said, reacting to a question.

Mr. Viswan said whenever factionalism raised its head during the run-up to the State conference, the party had taken corrective measures.

Replying to a question, he said: “The report at no point mentions that factionalism had affected the functioning of the government.” The report had a detailed evaluation of the functioning of various departments and a critical examination of the work taken up by the party to highlight the impact of price rise and various issues of concern to the people, he said.

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