CPM rules out any electoral adjustments with the Congress.
The Communist Party of Indian (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury is all set to get a second term of three years as the party’s ongoing five-day 22nd congress draws to a close today, 22 April. A consensus to this effect was arrived in the steering committee meeting on Saturday. But former general secretary Prakash Karat has emerged as a taller leader in the party which embraced his hardliner political tactics.
A closer look at the proceedings of the congress, the highest decision making body of the CPM, reveals that Karat even after demitting the top post wields influence over a majority of the total 747 delegates with voting right, besides the all powerful politburo with 16 members and the Central Committee (CC) with 91 members.
Even in the crucial political resolution, Karat’s group has gained the upper hand as they have ensured that there would be no electoral tie-up with the Congress in the coming elections. Their draft resolution which became the official document at the congress, ruled out the possibility of the CPM sharing any political front in which Congress is a constituent. So, there will be no pre-election understanding with Congress.
Yechury’s draft political resolution, which too was introduced before congress delegates as a minority line, however, favoured tactical understanding with the Congress to defeat the BJP which represents “communal forces”. Both the politburo and the CC have earlier adopted the Karat document but allowed Yechury’s version to be placed before the congress only to showcase the internal democracy of the party.
Karats’ official document received as many as 373 amendments and 37 of them were accepted after 47 delegates spoke on it on Thursday and Friday. A key amendment that appeared to be a concession to Yechury followers was that the party can work with Congress along with other secular forces within and outside the Parliament on some identified issues.
Some minor amendments to the official resolution of Karat, like allowing the party to have an issue based understanding with Congress, are seen by some observers as a victory of sorts to Yechury and his group, but in essence, it won’t have any impact on the line championed by Karat. As far as the official resolution piloted by Karat, the CPM will not help Congress electorally.
Though Yechury is allowed to work with Congress as a secular party on some specific issues in and outside Parliament, that won’t alter the existing position, as the CPM is adopting similar tactics at the national and states levels. In fact, Congress will be treated just like any other secular party and will get no preferential treatment at the national level.
CPM politburo member Brinda Karat, who briefed the media on Saturday, made it clear that her party wherever it was weak would support any other secular party which can defeat the BJP, depending on local conditions. She also indicated that regional secular parties would be preferred to Congress, a national secular party, when it comes to fighting the BJP.
Brinda, wife of Prakash Karat, told the media that the party congress had discussed steps to strengthen the Left Front in West Bengal without banking on Congress, which oscillates between the Left camp and Trinamool Congress whenever polls come. Brinda’s clarification too makes it clear that there was no good news to Congress from this CPM congress.
Sources said that the Karat line got majority delegates’ support from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and partially from Bengal and Tripura, while those from other states were evenly split between them. A senior comrade from Thiruvananthapuram told this newspaper that Kerala’s line is Karat’s line, as Congress was the principal opposition in the state.
Though a section of delegates who toed the line of Yechury wanted voting on the political resolution, the Karat camp prevailed on them and ensured that division was avoided. Instead, the congress gave a second term to Yechury (the party constitution allows a general secretary three consecutive terms) as a peace effort. In turn, Yechury agreed to abide by the majority view and put up a unity show.