For the latest round of elections in the state is not about how the Marxists aced the Congress-led front but all about how the 83-year old Achuthanandan, who everyone had written off, managed to clip the wings of arch-rival Pinarayi Vijayan, considered the modern face of the Communist Party of India-Marxist in the state.
Only last month, on the eve of the assembly election, the CPM was facing an unprecedented crisis.
The party was in the throes of a power struggle between Achuthanandan and the party's state secretary Vijayan.
Back then it was Vijayan who was calling the shots; and he effectively blocked Achuthanandan from even getting a seat to contest the polls. The latter's perseverance however paid off as the politburo finally allotted him a seat in Palakkad's Malampuzha constituency.
Till last month, Vijayan was the Left Front's most fiery speaker and the front-runner whom everyone thought would be the chief minister if the LDF came to power.
But today, as electioneering peaks across Kerala, Vijayan is almost reduced to being a silent spectator. And the man calling the shots, and the crowd-puller across the state, is Achuthanandan. As he campaigns around the state often for 18 hours a day, large crowds wait everywhere for him.
"Achuthanandan's biggest achievement is that he can easily build a rapport with people. He is a workers' leader. He is a people's man. That is why he is a crowd-puller during elections, especially in villages," notes K Satheesh, political anyalyst with a Malayalam weekly.
So how did Achuthanandan, whom the Congress describes as the 'anti-development hero' of Kerala, turne the tables on arch-rival Vijayan? Does Vijayan feel belittled by the sudden change of fortune?
Ask Vijayan and pat comes the reply. "It is all the creation of a section of the Malayalam media. Our party is not like the Congress where leaders are more important than the party and ethics. In our party, people and workers are more important than leaders," Vijayan told rediff.com during a low-key election rally that he addressed in Thrissur in central Kerala.
Vijayan says the non-stop talk that Achuthanandan and he are arch-rivals has only benefited the party. "I am with him, addressing all major rallies and election meetings. We are fighting the elections together. And you will come to know the power of our leadership when the election results come in," smiles Vijayan.
But why is he not in the fray while Achuthanandan, though 83, is contesting? "Age is not the barometer in CPM when the party decides on who should contest. In fact, it is a generally accepted rule in the CPM that the party state general secretary should not contest polls. I am the general secretary in Kerala, and thus I am not contesting," he says.
Does Vijayan see Achuthanandan as a chief ministerial candidate? "Look, in CPM we do not project any chief ministerial candidate. We decide on the chief minister after the election. It is a decision left to the party politburo and the elected MLAs," he says.
Despite Vijayan's denials that he is not basking in the election mileage the CPM is drawing day by day -- pre-poll surveys project a cool win for the LDF -- many in the party believe his fortunes have been clipped at least for the time being because of many reasons.
First of all, CPM insiders concede, Vijayan is not like most Marxist leaders. "There have been allegations of corruption against him. And his penchant for foreign tours and modern lifestyle has created a wedge between traditional leaders and him," points out a CPM leader.
He says the fact that Vijayan has sent his son to study in a British university, and that his son is staying with an industrialist's son, has harmed his reputation among the CPM leadership.
At the same time, "Vijayan cannot be written off. After the polls, he has the political power and cunning to come back to the centre-stage," added the leader.
Vijayan is from the traditional Marxist base of Kannur in north Kerala, and entered the party through the student movement. For long he was president of the Kerala Students' Federation. Unlike Achuthanandan, Vijayan has been a minister in the LDF government, between 1996 and 1998. He has been secretary of the CPM state committee since 1998; the post of party state secretary is very influential, and Vijayan has always used his political clout to belittle Achuthanandan.
But the latter has a traditional following in the party, especially from the lower castes and classes. Decades back, he led the legendary peasant uprising in central Kerala known as the Punnapra-Vayalar Samaram.
But despite his sterling organizational skills, he has never been a minister.
Sadly, his attempts to become chief minister on two previous occasions never materialized: in 1991, when the LDF lost the assembly elections; and in 1996, he was defeated at the polls, even though he led the elections and the LDF came to power.
Achuthanandan has said on many occasions that he lost the 1996 elections because of his arch-rivals -- meaning the Pinarayi faction -- defeated him in the traditional Marxist bastion of Maraikkulam in Alappuzha district.
Since then, the fight between them has continued.
Now that he is leading the poll campaign this time round, Achuthanandan nurtures his last hope: to become the chief minister of Kerala.
Achuthanandan might easily take the LDF to victory, if the poll surveys are true. But that need not necessarily make him the next chief minister. For that the veteran will have to once again slog it out against the Vijayan faction.
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