Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 10 (IANS) Former Kerala chief minister and CPI-M leader V.S. Achuthanandan Monday seemed set to defy his party’s decision not to oppose the Kudankulam nuclear power plant project and was planning to visit the project site in Tamil Nadu.

Achuthanandan, a central committee member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), lashed out at the proposed plant that is all set to go live, in a special article he wrote for a leading vernacular newspaper here.

To queries from reporters soon after reports came of the Tamil Nadu Police baton- charging thousands of protesting villagers, including women and children, at Kudankulam, he said he planned to visit the site soon.

“Yes, I am planning to go there shortly and I will let you know,” said Achuthanandan, who, in his article, was highly critical of the proposed plant and said it would be detrimental to the interests of the people living in and around the site.

His stand came despite the CPI-M, at its recent party congress held in Kozhikode early this year, taking a stand not to oppose the Kudankulam project - comprising two 1,000 MW reactors being built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) with Russian assistance.

CPI-M leaders asserted that Achuthanandan has to abide by the party stand.

“The decision of the politburo is also applicable to central committee member Achuthanandan and he will have to abide by that,” party legislator and former minister Thomas Issac told reporters at Kottayam.

Incidentally, this is not going to be the first time that Achuthanandan has taken a position contradicting the stand of his party as last week only he supported the need for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry as sought by the widow of a former party leader who was brutally murdered in May this year near Kozhikode.

Party general secretary Prakash Karat only Sunday held that there was no need for a CBI probe into the murder of T.P. Chandrasekheran.