Thiruvananthapuram, July 6: Big Brother CPM has struck back, teaching the CPI, its junior partner in the LDF coalition in Kerala, a lesson in political chicanery.

In a swift move, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan today got his cabinet to approve the shunting of an IAS officer who has the backing of the CPI in his drive against encroachers in the hill resort of Munnar.

The removal of Sreeram Venkitaraman, sub-collector of the Devikulam revenue division in Idukki district under whose jurisdiction Munnar falls, was not even on the agenda of the meeting.

The CPI, whose minister E. Chandrasekharan holds the revenue portfolio, has been firing from the shoulders of the young officer at the chief minister and his party for the past few months for allegedly covertly shielding encroachers in Munnar.

However, none of the four CPI ministers objected to the sub-collector's removal when it was raised at the cabinet meeting.

Although political observers say Venkitaraman's removal had been in the offing since powerful CPM leaders and at least one Congress leader from Idukki had been baying for his scalp, the CPI, especially its state secretary Kanam Rajendran, had given the impression that the party would not let the officer go at any cost.

The issue, along with the drive against encroachers, had become a bone of contention between the two communist brothers, who maintain a love-hate relationship ever since the historic split in 1964.

With the backing of all environmentalists in the state and a few CPM leaders like veteran V.S. Achuthanandan, an emboldened CPI had held forth so far in its new-found crusade against the land mafia which has thrived under the alleged benevolence of major political parties, especially the CPM.

But with one master stroke, Vijayan, whose word is final in the Kerala CPM despite relinquishing his post of state unit secretary to become chief minister pipping arch rival Achuthanandan, has shown Rajendran and the CPI where their place in the government is.

Vijayan had made his displeasure against officer Venkitaraman and revenue minister Chandrasekharan public when he made a big issue of the pulling down of a massive cross erected by the encroachment mafia masquerading as an evangelist group, Spirit of Jesus, last April at the entrance of its 30-acre land.

Vijayan's outburst was more a message to the CPI not to cross the line when it came to encroachment as it would "hurt certain sections within the CPM".

But the latest provocation for the CPM was the sub-collector's order to evict a homestay owner from prime land in Munnar town and Kerala High Court's refusal to interfere in the matter.

The chief minister had directed the revenue secretary to call a meeting to discuss the issue following Chandrasekharan's refusal to do so.

Inevitably, the minister stayed away from the meeting following a directive from his party state executive, which must have been construed by Vijayan as an act of defiance to his authority.

Rajendran had added to the chief minister's ire by saying the "CPM alone is not the LDF government". Vijayan immediately responded by saying "certain people think they are running the government by fanning controversy".

The high court ruling had been considered a moral victory for the CPI, but it proved to be short-lived.

The CPI has no choice but to lie low for the time being, though the party has made it clear that their minister would continue with the anti-encroachment drive, Venkitaraman or not.

Ironically, the last Achuthanandan-led LDF government's drive to evict encroachers in Munnar had also been aborted by none other than Vijayan, then CPM state secretary, and his coterie in the party that continues to run the show in Idukki.