Kochi,27 October(HS): All four representatives of the CPI in the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government will stay away from the weekly cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday to show their disapproval of the big brother CPI(M) in its decision to implement the PM-SHRI scheme in Kerala.

Though CPI’s State Secretary Binoy Viswam, who is also considered the ideological chief of the global communist movement, held a one-hour long meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the historical Alappuzha Guest House on Monday afternoon to resolve the issue, it did not bear fruit.

The CPI State Secretary told reporters after the meeting with the chief minister that there have been no solutions to the problems highlighted by his party. “All issues remain unresolved. We will take the next course of action after our meeting at the State, National and International levels,” he said.

Viswam, who has an inherent hatred for Vijayan, remained adamant in his opposition to the “RSS promoted” PM-SHRI scheme and asked the chief minister not to go ahead with the Central Government, which would bring quality education to children hailing from poor families.

The chief minister held a meeting with the three CPI ministers after his one-to-one meeting with Viswam. But it too remained inconclusive as the CPI ministers wanted the chief minister to put on hold the PM-SHRI scheme. Kerala’s education minister V Sivankutty had said last week that the CPI stance is with the sole purpose of derailing the education system and putting the future of the students in peril.

But many leaders in the CPI and the CPI(M) feel that this is a kind of bargaining by the CPI in the backdrop of the upcoming elections to the local bodies as well as the State Assembly. The truth is that the CPI does not have any followers other than leaders who masquerade as thinktanks and strategists.

E P Jayarajan, former LDF convenor and a prominent CPI(M) leader scoffed at the CPI, which is staring straight in the eyes of the CPI(M). Even if the CPI walks out of the LDF and joins the Congress-led UDF, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Government survive because of the support extended by the fringe outfits.

In the Kerala Legislative Assembly, with total strength of 140, the CPI(M) -led LDF has 99 members. The CPI(M) needs just 71 members to remain in power. Even if the CPI cocks a snook and joins the UDF, the LDF will have 83 members, 12 more than what it needs to have an absolute majority.

Hindusthan Samachar / Manohar Yadavatti