CPI-M to decide fate of warring Kerala leaders at crucial meet (Lead)

New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, July 10 (IANS) The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) begins a crucial two-day central committee meeting here Saturday hoping to put an end to the bitter factional feud in its Kerala unit.

The two warring senior Kerala leaders Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan have reached the capital to attend the meeting. Both are staying at Kerala House.

While Achuthanandan declined to speak to the media, Vijayan said he saw the rains in the national capital as "a good sign".

Vijayan met party general secretary Prakash Karat and spent more than an hour at the party head quarters. Achuthanandan, who kept to his room, met some of his close confidants outside the party circle.

The 85-member central committee meeting is being held after the party politburo met last week to discuss the Kerala issue.

Party sources said the politburo would meet Saturday morning to finalise its decision on the Kerala issue. "The central committee meeting is expected to start in the afternoon," sources said.

Achuthanandan has been demanding that Vijayan be removed as state secretary since he has been named an accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Rs.374 crore SNC Lavalin corruption case.

The Vijayan faction, in retaliation, has demanded that disciplinary action be taken against Achuthanandan for "violating party discipline".

"A solution will surely be found during the central committee meeting. This fight cannot go on any longer because not only has it sullied the image of the party but also that of the state government," a CPI-M minister told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Twelve of the 85 members of the central committee are from Kerala.

Last updated on Jul 10^th, 2009 at 21:50 pm IST--IANS