Tripura will be BJP’s 'Waterloo', claims CPM

NEW DELHI: Attempts by a section of the CPM to push for a political unity of secular parties were stymied, if only temporarily, on Monday when the Central Committee of the CPM unanimously backed the Politburo's draft of CPM's political resolution for the party congress in April next year.

The Politburo (PB) draft, sources told TOI, has out rightly rejected the possibility of any electoral alliance between the Left and Congress. They have, however, kept their 'options open' on the issue of getting all secular, democratic forces — not political parties only — to rally together in order to contain the growth of the BJP and RSS. A senior party leader privy to the meeting said while the CPM was ready to work with anyone opposed to the BJP and RSS, a distinction needed to be made between working relations and electoral alliances.

Sources in the Left party also said the three-day meeting of the central committee had taken up for discussion two sets of draft resolutions. One resolution pushed for the need for an alliance with the Congress and other political outfits in order to defeat the saffron spread. The second resolution by the politburo, however, opposed any electoral alliance with the Congress. Following the three-day discussions, the PB draft approved.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, however, sought to play down the intra-party rift and said the CPM was united in its opposition of the BJP and its alleged "unprecedented, undemocratic" acts. Announcing that the party leaders would lead a protest march against the BJP's actions on Tuesday morning, the CPM demanded that BJP end its doublespeak on corruption and set up a probe against allegations of corruption against BJP president Amit Shah's son Jay Amit Shah. He also said BJP had failed to act on Panama papers, Birla Diaries and Lalit Modi. Yechury said, "Amit Shah had to flee Kerala not because of any discussion on economy, as was claimed, but in order to save his son, Jay Amit Shah, who was found embroiled in a scam."

Yechury also said it was unprecedented how Union ministers had lead protests against the democratically elected Kerala government. Referring to the Left Front government's on-going tussle with the BJP in Tripura, Yechury added, "Amit Shah's new patented formula is to lose elections but form the government. But if the BJP thinks they are on a winning spree, then they must know that like Napolean, Tripura will be their Waterloo." The CPM general secretary also alleged that the BJP was organising separatists under a single umbrella in Tripura, completely disregarding India's security concerns in the process. "All that the BJP cares for is to win elections. They will even compromise the country's security to achieve their aim," he added.