A Coca-Cola factory at Plachimada in Kerala's Palakkad district has become the center of the tussle between Marxist leaders in the state.

The leaders are fighting among themselves even as they campaign to close down the factory, citing depletion of ground water in the region. Intrestingly, the former Communist Party of India (Marxist) government in the state, headed by E K Nayanar, had sanctioned the factory in 1997.

But the 'oust-Coke' political stir has ended in a war of words between the party's two senior leaders --- V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan.

Various Marxist and Communist groups have also been criticising Chief Minister A K Antony for going ahead with development and economic schemes that are detrimental to Kerala.

But Antony recently declared that a number of development schemes that his government is these days carrying out are the ones, which the earlier Nayanar government had sanctioned.

Antony also said that it was the CPI (M)-led government that cleared the setting up of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Palakkad.

A section of the Marxist leaders led by Achuthanandan, demanded an investigation to find out the person responsible in the Nayanar government for sanctioning the Coke plant.

But CPI (M) state secretary Vijayan overruled Achuthanandan and said that there is no need for any investigation or inquiry into the matter.

"The issue is not whether who sanctioned the Coke plant. The serious matter is that the local residents are not getting sufficient drinking water in their wells due to over exploitation of ground water by the Coca-Cola company," Vijayan told rediff.com.

As for Achuthanandan's demand for an enquiry into the matter, Vijayan said that the plant should not have been sanctioned without examining the availability of water. "But there is no need for any inquiry into the matter," he added.

CPI (M) insiders point out that the 'oust-Coke' campaign is one of the many crucial issues on which the two senior party leaders are fighting these days. "The party is becoming a rudderless party with the senior leaders fighting among themselves for power and position," said a party legislator.

He said the biggest failure of the party in Kerala these days is the lack of quality leadership to take on the Congress in the state. "The party does not have any strategy to take on Chief Minister Antony who is going ahead with successful programmes and projects," he said.

As the CPI (M) leaders fight it out with words, the Coca-Cola company has come out with studies saying the Marxist allegations of depleting ground water resources in Palakkad is a political move to throw out the plant from the state.

Calling the Marxists as 'extremists', a Coke statement said that neighboring communities, tribal leaders, voluntary groups, environmental scientists and government officials have repeatedly stated that the Marxist allegations are false.

The company released studies done by the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, which said that there is no field evidence of overexploitation of the groundwater reserves in the Coke plant area in Palakkad.

Coke officials pointed out that the Marxists have suddenly come out against the plant to make political mileage out of a sensitive like water. "In fact, sons of a number of local Marxist workers are employed in our plant. It is shameful that the Coke project that the previous Marxist government sanctioned is now being attacked by their own leaders," a Coke official said.

The latest investigation released by the Kerala State Groundwater Department has also rejected the allegation that one of the reasons for water shortage in the area is overexploitation by the plant. Instead it points to 'poor rainfall during the last few years as an important reason for the low water level in the open wells in the area'.