Thiruvananthapuram, March 3 The two Communist parties in Kerala, the largest party -- the CPI-M and CPI -- the second biggest ally in the ruling Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government, have their own set of rules for tipplers.
On Monday, M. V. Govindan, the State CPI-M Secretary, a senior legislator and also a former Excise Minister, made no bones of the party's stand towards tipplers.
"We are a party which has an ideology which is very clear that our comrades should not smoke or drink. If you (media) shows one comrade of ours who drinks, he will be thrown out of the party," said Govindan.
He was interacting with the reporters ahead of the upcoming state party conference beginning later this week and he is all set to get another term.
However, the State CPI Secretary Binoy Viswam early this year created a stir when he said his party's stand for their comrades is they can drink but at no cost they should drink in public.
He said that none of their party members should be in an inebriated state in public, while they can drink at their homes and remain indoors.
Incidentally, it was in 1964 that the CPI split and the CPI-M was formed and following that it was the latter which ruled the roost among the Communists after they reigned supreme in West Bengal for more than three decades and a near similar performance was witnessed in Tripura but things went haywire in both these states and their only bastion presently is in Kerala, where Pinarayi Vijayan created history by retaining power in the 2021 Assembly polls.
In the past nine years there have been minor brushes between the CPI-M and CPI and in the first Vijayan government, the CPI created a jolt when all four of its Ministers boycotted a weekly Cabinet meeting after differences of opinion cropped up with Vijayan, but the issue was soon resolved.
However, in Kerala the CPI, even though at present is with the Left, in the past they had joined the alliance with the Congress and it saw its legendary leaders C. Achutha Menon and P.K. Vasudevan Nair going on to become Chief Ministers, with the support of the Congress.
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