Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan's absence from the national seminar on 'world of EMS' has raised several eyebrows in the state. The national seminar on EMS on Saturday was attended by the who's who of the party.
Perhaps the Kerala Chief Minister would have loved to attend the event but Achuthanandan -- the senior most CPM politburo member and someone who worked closely with EMS Namboodiripad, was surprisingly not invited to this seminar inaugurated by party general secretary Prakash Karat.
When NDTV inquired with the Chief Minister's office we were posed a counter question rather curtly. Is it necessary for the chief minister to attend all the functions?
But not many in Kerala would agree that this was just a routine affair.
All senior CPM leaders were present at this event in memory of India's first communist chief minister, a man who once famously commented about the consequences of breaching party discipline.
"I have spent my entire life time building the socialist and communist movement. But unfortunately if today I do something which goes against the party, you will not spare me," E M S Namboothiripad, former Chief Minister of Kerala had said.
Even relatives of EMS are surprised at Achuthanandan's exclusion.
So, the big question, did the CPM keep Achuthanandan out because of his continued defiance of the party line in the SNC Lavalin case?