New Delhi: The CPM's decision to keep the door open to an understanding with the Congress in the fight against the RSS-BJP is not what the party's Kerala unit has all along bargained for.

The Kerala leadership had openly backed Prakash Karat's line that the CPM's efforts to defeat the BJP in 2019 have to be done "without an understanding or electoral alliance with the Congress party".

Last January, the Kerala unit was instrumental in shooting down a resolution moved by party general secretary Sitaram Yechury for a tactical understanding with the Congress to defeat the BJP. That resolution was rejected by the CPM central committee by 35-55 votes.

In its final resolution, the party has removed the words "without having an understanding with the Congress Party" and retained "without having a political alliance with the Congress Party".

It is understandable that the leadership will have to do a lot of explanation back home in Kerala. In the run-up to the party congress, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had at every district committee meeting repeatedly rejected any truck with the Congress at any level. It had even bordered on a personal attack on Yechury under the guise of anti-Congressism.

That animosity came out in the open at the party congress in Hyderabad. Of the three members fielded by the Kerala unit to oppose any alliance or understating with the Congress, Rajya Sabha MP K.K. Ragesh was the most vitriolic.

Accusing Yechury of keeping the party backdoor open to the Congress, Ragesh called him an opportunist and said the CPM general secretary was nursing a grudge against the party for denying him another term in the Upper House.

That was most uncalled for and reflected the desperation of the state leadership without whose permission Ragesh would not have ventured into such an attack.

Whatever the leaders may say, the divide within the party is for all to see. It will only sharpen, at least in the case of Kerala, assuming that Yechury gets another term as general secretary.

In the last three years his wings have been clipped, very much like that of veteran V.S. Achuthanandan who was like a caged bird during his tenure as chief minister in 2006-11. Then Vijayan as state secretary was dictating terms to VS with the help of his Kannur lobby.

In Hyderabad, Yechury reportedly had the support of members from at least 16 states, though their numbers, except for Bengal, do not add up much. But with new faces in the politburo and the central committee, Yechury may gain the upper hand and push through his agenda.

Once Yechury's hands are strengthened, comrades in Kerala may regain their voice of dissent. Right now there is no inner party democracy in the Kerala CPM. Everything begins and ends with Vijayan. In fact the party itself has been pushed to the background.

Of the 175 members from Kerala the lone voice to back Yechury was that of Achuthanandan. Insiders say most of them are afraid to speak up. That was one reason many of them preferred a secret ballot on the issue of the Congress.

In the name of the Congress, the BJP is sure to sharpen its attack on the CPM in Kerala. Coalition partner CPI, which is holding its own party congress, may taunt the state CPM leadership with uncomfortable questions on its "understanding" with the Congress.

Despite his age, Achuthanandan, 94, may emerge from his corner and once again raise his voice against the state leadership. His closeness to Yechury will be watched with suspicion by the official leadership.

Definitely the party is not going to return to Kerala "unified".