CPI(M) makes way for CPI, RSP

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 16. Ending week-long suspense, the CPI(M) has pulled out of the June 23 Rajya Sabha poll fray, leaving the two seats the LDF is certain to win to the CPI and the RSP. The CPI(M) nominee, Mr. K. Chandran Pillai, withdrew his nomination less than an hour before the deadline for withdrawal today.

According to the compromise formula worked out by the LDF State leadership, the two seats would be shared evenly by the CPI(M), CPI, RSP and, surprise of surprises, the Janata Dal. The CPI and the CPI(M) would share one seat and the RSP and the Janata Dal the other. The CPI leader, Mr. V. V. Raghavan, and the RSP's Mr. N. K. Premachandran would hold the two seats for the first half of the six-year tenure.

The formula is only a ploy to cover up the embarrassment of the CPI(M). For the CPI, it is a morale-boosting victory and for the RSP a much-needed tonic.

The LDF State committee took barely five minutes to arrive at these decisions. The leaders of the CPI and the RSP had been sounded out on the compromise formula well before the CPI(M) leaders, who had gone to Delhi to attend the party politburo meeting, started their journey back home. Still, there was heavy suspense as the plane in which the CPI(M) leaders returned landed more than half-an-hour behind schedule. Leaders of the CPI and the RSP rushed to the AKG Centre, the State headquarters of the CPI(M), immediately on arrival of their CPI(M) counterparts and were closeted separately with the latter for a brief while.

At the closed-door meeting, the LDF convener, Mr. V. S. Achuthanandan, and the CPI(M) State secretary, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan, told the CPI and RSP leaders that the CPI(M) candidate is leaving the fray in the interest of the coalition and urged them to scale down their demands. They readily agreed to the suggestion.

Mr. Achuthanandan later described the amicable settlement of the dispute as a sign of the Front's resilience. Mr. Vijayan said his party had acted in the best interests of the coalition's unity. The CPI State secretary, Mr. Veliyam Bhargavan, expressed happiness and observed that the dispute could be resolved amicably only because of the flexible stand adopted by all the parties concerned. He was confident that the latest developments would help strengthen LDF unity.

The RSP State secretary, Prof. T. J. Chandrachoodan, said today's developments showed that small parties are getting the recognition they deserved in the LDF. He was personally happy that the CPI(M) had kept the word it had given to the RSP at the time of the 1999 Lok Sabha poll and about ``the failure of the UDF bid to pull either the CPI or the RSP from the LDF''.

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Section  : Southern States
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