CPI-M says CBI's Lavalin probe politically motivated

CPM VERSUS VS: CPM had issued V C Achuthanandan a carte blanche to toe the party line.

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New Delhi: The storm in the Kerala CPM has blown over for the moment. Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan's reservations on the party line notwithstanding, the politburo on Saturday reiterated that the CBI probe against its State Secretary Pinaryi Vijayan is politically motivated.

CPM said this using the Supreme Court observation in the Mulayam disproportionate assets case to buttress its point. The SNC-Lavalin case pertains to a contract given to the Canadian company by the same name when Vijayan was the state power minister, and which allegedly led to significant loss to the state exchequer.

"The Supreme Court recently slammed the CBI for acting at the behest of the Government," said Prakash Karat.

He also made it clear that Vijayan - who enjoys a brute majority in the state committee - will stay put as CPM State Secreatary in Kerala.

"This does not not apply to Comrade Vijayan as he is not not a minister, MP, MLA or holding any public office. We will fight the case politically and legally if it comes up in court," he said.

Sources say the Chief Minister, who had refused to toe the party line so far, was issued a carte blanche.

"V S Achuthanandan is the Chief Minister but he is also a politburo member," said Prakash Karat.

For the CPM, it is the Somnath Chatterjee episode revisited - the conflict between obligations of a Constitutional post and the party line. But unlike in the case of the Lok Sabha Speaker, it would not be desirable for the party to go for a change of guard in the state, especially with elections just weeks away and given the mass appeal V S Achuthanandan commands.

But this is not the end of the Lavlin saga. The High Court has given the V S Cabinet three months to reply on the request to sanction the prosecution of Pinarayi Vijayan. When the time to take that decision comes, sources say matters could come to a head.