Dubbed by his critics as a "doctrinaire Marxist", Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, who was ejected out of the CPI(M) Politburo, is no stranger to controversies as it is the fourth time the veteran comrade is facing disciplinary action.

A founder leader of the CPI-M, Achuthanandan incurred the wrath of the party high command during the Chinese aggression in 1962 as he organised a blood donation campaign for Indian soldiers, defying the party policy that led to his being shunted out of the Central Committee to the branch committee.

He was then detained in a prison here alongwith several other party workers, as the Indian Communist Party was alleged to have taken a "pro-Chinese position" in the war, according to CPI-M old timers here.

Without consulting the party elders, Achuthanandan called upon the political prisoners to donate blood for the soldiers. A fellow prisoner leaked out the information to a popular pro-Left English weekly, which made big story out of it. The party later discussed the matter and Achuthanandan was demoted to the lowest tier in the organisation.

A popular leader who has risen from the ranks, the 86-year-old Marxist veteran has often been dubbed as the "well-spring" of factionalism in the state.

He was censured by the party for his role in cutting down his opponents in the state by manipulating their exclusion from the state committee at the state party conference in 1998, which came to be known in Kerala political parlance as 'Vettinirathal' (cutting down to size).

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