An ignominious exit by VS

KOZHIKODE: As the old man nearing 90 strutted away from  the venue of the all-important national meet of his political party on Monday evening, he was adding another chapter to the history of communist movement.  For, V S Achuthanandan it turned out to be an ignominious exit.Where does he go now? Many asked this question as the door of the CPM politburo was slammed before VS at the party congress on Monday evening. There wasn’t many to follow him as he walked away chiding the media which had always come to his rescue.Evidently, there had been a calculated plan to keep VS away from the politburo. The official wing in Kerala succeeded in checking the re-entry of VS in the politburo. The strategy was to remove him from the central committee (CC) itself imposing an age-limit of 80 to the members of central committee. The strategy didn’t work, as Prakash Karat himself found it impractical. However, a special gesture was offered to VS, and he rejected it saying “I need no special consideration”.In the case of VS, General Secretary Prakash Karat blatantly succumbed to the pressures from the Kerala lobby headed by Pinarayi Vijayan.  Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of West Bengal, who begged to be opted out of central committee and politburo owning up responsibility for the electoral debacle in West Bengal was forced to remain in PB.The reaction of VS to the treatment meted out to him by the party he served for more than seven decades was subdued.