Caught in a tussle between Kerala CPI(M) Secretary and Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan and his bête noire, Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat is looking at options to maintain a balance between the two camps ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

While Karat is not keen to convene a special Politburo meeting, as demanded by Achuthanandan, to discuss the corruption charges against Vijayan, he may revamp various block and area units of the party in Kerala to appease the chief minister. Last year, the Politburo had intervened and made changes in some district committees like Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam to balance the power equations between the two camps.

Another source suggested that the process for change had already started from the Thiruvananthapuram district and would be followed in many other blocks.

Vijayan is the first Politburo member of the party to face serious corruption charges. This was after the Central Bureau of Investigation said it intended to prosecute Vijayan in the “SNC Lavalin case”. Vijayan was the state’s power minister when the Kerala Electricity Board signed a deal for renovation of three hydel projects with the help of Canadian firm SNC Lavalin Inc.

The probe was initiated when a CAG report slammed the deal and observed that the renovation didn’t increase the output of these projects. Achuthanandan put tremendous pressure on the party to take action against Vijayan. Till date, he has not publicly endorsed the party’s stand of supporting Vijayan. A party insider said even Politburo members from states like West Bengal tried to persuade Achuthanandan to defuse the crisis. But these efforts had not gone very far, he said.

Vijayan is planning to take out a “Nav Kerala Yatra” to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. But the chief minister is yet to agree to inaugurate the yatra.

Meanwhile, punitive action against Vijayan (like forcing him to step down from the general secretary’s post) has been ruled out.

“Vijayan is an important leader. While he holds the key to our organisation in Kerala, Achuthanandan is the face of our administration in the state. We need both Vijayan and Achuthanandan,” said a CC member.

To further embarrass Vijayan, Achuthanandan has been demanding that the Politburo should meet to discuss the issue. Available members of the Politburo held a meeting in New Delhi last week and issued a statement supporting Vijayan and terming the SNS lavalin case a “politically-motivated case”.

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