Perhaps sensing the imminent ascent of a government under Pinarayi Vijayan, the recently-concluded state meeting of the CPM in Alappuzha had made a decision that has the potential to improve governance and performance of the new government.
One of the reasons that prompted such a decision was the feeling that external forces were widening internal divisions within the party. While the party would have wanted the norms to be implemented with much fanfare, dramatic developments during that meeting, which saw opposition leader V. S. Achuthanandan sulking at his house, saw these decisions losing the limelight.
The proposal is a pointer to new ministers who are to take oath soon because strict action from the party is expected with regard to the hiring of personal staff by ministers. Both the LDF and the UDF do not have very good experiences with the arbitrary hiring of personnel staff of ministers and if the CPM has taken such a decision now, it means that it would have felt the urgent necessity to deal with the issue as soon as possible.
One of the very significant decisions taken at the party meeting was that appointments to the personal staff of ministers have to be made according to educational qualifications. This norm, through proposed during the UDF regime, had died without a whimper.
The meeting decided on five proposals:
- Ministers, as well as the opposition leader of the party, should appoint staff under their purview only on the basis of educational qualifications.
- Promotions of these staff should also be dependent on educational qualifications and no concessions are allowed since the positions draw salaries that are at par with secretariat staff.
- Those hired should be efficient.
- Those above 60 years should not be allowed to continue in service.
The CPM's proposals would block those without educational qualifications and those above a particular age from working in the offices of ministers. While the rush is already on for personal staff positions of ministers, it would be imperative for the party to implement its norms.
Earlier, the central committee of the party had to intervene to get rid of three staff members of V.S. Achuthanandan. This shows how difficult and sensitive the exercise is. The party took action against the three for allegedly leaking information. That one of them, V.K. Sasidharan, had retired as a teacher had been a big issue of contention for the party, which said that VS could be supporting the appointment of Sasidharan and others for running a parallel party centre. Though Sasidharan quit as office staff, he is still behind VS' letters and communications.
When VS publicly disowned his private secretary S. Rajendran, it created a flutter in the party. When he was unhappy with Rajendran, whom he had earlier appointed, VS suggested that Rajendran could have been sent by the party to spy on him. The party did not take it well and defended Rajendran, who was also a state committee member by saying that VS was crossing his limits.
The new government under Pinarayi could learn from the past experiences and take precautions to prevent personnel staff from fuelling infightings. When VS Achuthanandan became CM in 2006, observations in the party annals said that the general feeling was that the government was a motley group of inefficient people. Later, when the Left sat in the opposition under VS’ leadership, the party did not have much esteem for its cadres' performance in the house either. It observed that many members were complacent even when the house was boiling over. They were accused of supporting ministers and not being punctual even when voting was scheduled in the Assembly. Now that Pinarayi has taken over as the captain of the Left, will all be fine?