CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Governor P. Sathasivam were at the receiving end of some sharp criticism from speakers on the opening day of the CPI(M) State committee meeting here on Thursday.
While Mr. Yechury came in for criticism for the controversy triggered by the West Bengal CPI(M) State committee’s insistence on his candidature in the Rajya Sabha poll, Mr. Sathasivam came under attack for his having summoned State Police Chief Loknath Behera even after having had a meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
While the Governor’s meeting with the Chief Minister could be termed part of the cordial relations that he has maintained with the government all along, the decision to summon the State Police Chief suggested ulterior motives, the members felt.
On the RS poll row, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member S. Ramachandran Pillai told the meeting that the issue should have been closed once the Polit Bureau, on June 7, decided that Mr. Yechury should not contest for a third term, that too with Congress support.
The matter would have ended there, but for the Bengal unit’s insistence on taking the issue to the Central committee and having a division over it. The party could not permit its general secretary to be elected to the Rajya Sabha with Congress support. Nor did it want to break the convention of a person being given only two terms in the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress support, he pointed out, was for Mr. Yechury and not for any party candidate. This essentially meant that the Congress was deciding who the CPI(M) nominee should be. There was also no point in sending Mr. Yechury back to the Rajya Sabha given the heavy workload he has as party general secretary, he added.
Members who touched on the issue, felt that the party general secretary concerned and the Bengal unit should have shown greater care and responsibility in the matter.