VV Balakrishna
First Published : 09 Aug 2010 03:21:56 AM IST
Last Updated :
VIJAYAWADA: When the CPM's extended Central Committee meeting started discussing its draft political resolution here on Sunday, the big question before the comrades was how to retain power in West Bengal and Kerala where elections are due next May.
To start with, the party big wigs admitted that the situation was unfavourable. In West Bengal, the CPM, which has never lost Assembly elections for nearly three decades, is facing a serious threat from the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine. The Nandigram and Singur episodes further compounded the comrades' misery. If that is the situation in West Bengal, the party's other citadel Kerala too is crumbling. The infighting in the party's Kerala unit was reflected in the conspicuous absence of Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan at the Central Committee meeting here. However, party general secretary Prakash Karat said the Chief Minister could not make it as he was undergoing ayurvedic treatment. Achuthanandan had attended the Central Committee meeting three weeks back in Delhi, he pointed out. But his explanation did not carry conviction as four other comrades from Kerala too skipped the meeting ostensibly to undergo treatment.
Retaining power in Kerala and West Bengal is necessary for the future of the party in the country. In Bengal, the party has taken steps to remove organisational bottlenecks and reforge links with the people. But the situation as the committee felt was far from satisfactory. "The multi-pronged attack on the CPM cadre is meant to weaken the entire Left movement in the country,'' the CPM leadership observed. In Kerala, the party said, the Congress-led UDF was consolidating communal and reactionary forces behind it, particularly after the Lok Sabha polls.
The fact that the comrades were preoccupied with these two states was amply reflected in the speeches of the delegates, almost all of whom spoke mostly on the need to revive the party in the two states. The Central Committee is set to adopt a resolution on the two states on Monday. It has identified remedial steps to win back the confidence of voters in the states.
As for the other States, the central leadership was candid enough to admit it had made no headway in the Hindi heartland. "There is no substantial advance in other states,'' the draft resolution stated.
The committee sought to set at rest speculation over internal bickerings in the party particularly over withdrawing support to UPA-I govt on the controversial Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. "There is no basis for such reports. There is no discussion on such lines,'' a party delegate from Andhra Pradesh clarified.
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