Nothing untoward in being made 'special invitee': Achuthanandan

Visakapatnam/Thiruvananthapuram, April 19
Veteran CPI-M leader V.S. Achuthanandan, said on Sunday that there was nothing untoward in his being made only a special invitee in the central committee of the CPI-M.

The "special invitee" status is being seen as a clipping of his wings. The 91-member central committee of the CPI-M is the most powerful decision making body of the party. The 91-year-old veteran himself announced his new status, even as the official announcement of the new central committee of the party is yet to come.

The 21st CPI-M party Congress will conclude at Visakhapatnam, later in the day. Emerging from the meeting venue, Achuthanandan told the media that he has been made "special invitee" not due to his health but age.

There is nothing untoward in the decision and I accept it, said Achuthanandan while leaving to catch a flight to Chennai from where he would take another flight to Thiruvananthapuram.

But Achuthanandan surprised many when he returned an hour later and watched new general secretary Sitaram Yechury taking over. Soon after he again left the venue to catch his flight back home.

"This is going to be a new beginning for a change in the party," Achuthanandan said while leaving the venue for the second time in the morning. His closeness to Yechury is well known in the party and he wished him (Yechury) all the best in full media glare.

Achuthanandan is the only living member of those who walked out of the Communist Party of India and formed the CPI-M in 1964.

The veteran was ousted from the politburo in 2009 while he was the chief minister of Kerala. That action had come after his long standing feud with the then party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan reached a point of no return.

While Vijayan was later reinstated, Achuthanandan was not.

And now for the first time in his long and eventful career, Achuthanandan finds himself only a 'special invitee'.