Pinarayi or VS? Ever since the CPI(M) decided to field both Pinarayi Vijayan and V.S. Achuthanandan in the 2016 Assembly election, the question who would be the Chief Minister if the LDF won has been keenly debated in Kerala. The question was raised, with a gleeful reference to the legendary rivalry between the two top CPI(M) leaders, from every campaign platform of both the UDF and BJP across the State.

On Friday, the CPI(M)’s top national and State leaders will decide this question. Party general secretary Sitaram Yechury, former general secretary Prakash Karat and key members of the Polit Bureau will fly in to Thiruvananthapuram to supervise the selection.

However, it will not be an easy task for the party as both the stalwarts are strong contenders. The well-known animosity between the 92-year-old Achuthanandan and the 72-year-old Vijayan makes the situation worse. For more than a decade, the CPI(M) in Kerala has been split into the `Pinaryi faction’ (or the official faction) and the `VS faction.’ While Achuthanandan was the Chief Minister during 2006-11, Vijayan has never got a chance to head an LDF government as he had been the State party secretary for 16 long years until last year. The Pinarayi faction, which had even denied a seat to Achuthanandan initially in 2006, had tried its best to prevent him from becoming the Chief Minister when the LDF won the election.

Achuthanandan abundantly made it clear during the election campaign that he would like to become the Chief Minister once again. Even on Wednesday, answering a question, he told the media that if the party wanted him to be the Chief Minister, let it be.

LDF’S STAR CAMPAIGNER

And, to back up his claim, Achuthanandan has had a key role in LDF’s massive victory. He spearheaded the LDF campaign criss-crossing the State and taking on the UDF chief campaigner, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. His daily posts on Facebook kept the UDF engaged and the LDF followers excited. He was the public face of the LDF throughout the campaign. At age 92, he kept a killing schedule hoping from one campaign meeting to another, holding press conferences and virulently attacking the UDF and NDA. And in that sense, he has a legitimate stake in the Chief Ministership. Rumour had it that he had agreed to lead the campaign on a specific agreement with Sitaram Yechury that he would be made the Chief Minister in the even of the LDF victory.

But, age and Pinarayi Vijayan stand in the way of his ambition. The no-nonsense, tough-talking Vijayan has the majority support of the party’s State Committee and State Secretariat. Among the party circles, there has been an unstated understanding that he would be the next Chief Minister. At the same time, the party cannot ignore Achuthanandan’s popularity which had helped the LDF to sweep to power.

It is against this backdrop that the top brass of the party is arriving at Thiruvananthapuram on Friday to facilitate a smooth choice of the government leader by forestalling an open confrontation. Will it be VS or Pinarayi? Or, as being speculated by the media, will it be VS for the first two years and Pinarayi for the next three?

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