'Won't campaign in by-election'

 Thiruvanthapuram, June 1: Former Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthandan on Monday said he won’t campaign for the June 27 Aruvikara by-election to the assembly unless the CPI-M asked him to. Achuthandan is apparently miffed that the invitation for the first Left Democratic Front (LDF) election convention did not carry his me. The convention begins on Wednesday at Aruvikara. The convention will be iugurated by Kodiyeri Balakrishn, the state secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist. The CPI-M candidate at Aruvikara is M. Vijayakumar. Achuthandan had on Sunday presided over the meeting of the Marxist-led LDF to discuss the preparation for the election campaign. The Aruvikara campaign is being overseen by CPI-M leader Pirayi Vijayan, a rival of Achuthandan. Achuthandan has also been dropped from the state committee of the party for the first time since the CPI-M was founded in 1964. (IANS)