VS likely to stay away from by-election campaign

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan is likely to stay away from the LDF campaign for the June 27 Aruvikara by-election to the assembly.

Achuthanandan on Monday said he won't campaign for the by-election unless the CPI-M asked him to.

Achuthanandan is apparently miffed that the invitation for the first Left Democratic Front (LDF) election convention did not carry his name. The convention begins on Wednesday at Aruvikara.

The convention will be inaugurated by Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the state secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist. The CPI-M candidate at Aruvikara is M. Vijayakumar.

Achuthanandan had on Sunday presided over the meeting of the Marxist-led LDF to discuss the preparation for the election campaign.

The Aruvikara campaign is being overseen by CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan, a rival of Achuthanandan.

Achuthanandan has also been dropped from the state committee of the party for the first time since the CPI-M was founded in 1964.