Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan got no respite with the CPI-M central committee, the party's highest decision-making body, endorsing their suspension from the poliburo for indulging in a public spat.
The two-day meeting of the central committee approved the suspension on Tuesday and decided to take stock of the situation in its next meeting, which has not been scheduled yet.
Sending a strong and clear signal that it will not tolerate indiscipline, the CPI-M politburo cracked the whip against two of its senior members on May 26 after holding that their conduct of openly criticising each other through the media was unacceptable.
The suspension was seen as an attempt to rein in the two top leaders, the protagonists of the much-publicised factional feud, which has come as an embarrassment to the party that prides itself on discipline.
The action came after differences between Vijayan and Achuthanandan reached a flash point last month when the octogenarian chief minister without naming his arch foe in the party, accused him of leaking debates in the Left front meetings to the media.
Vijayan, who has been blaming a 'media syndicate' for spreading false stories against the party, strongly reacted saying that his senior colleague should have specified whom he was talking about when he made such a serious charge.
Differences between the two leaders following the recent demolitions of unauthorised constructions in Munnar hill resort also sparked a row.
