Demand for alliance with Congress gets louder within CPI(M) rank

While the defeat of the Left regime in Tripura after being in power for 25 years would likely undergo severe scrutiny by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leadership in the days to come, the party, for now, finds itself increasingly getting drawn into a debate it doesn’t appear to get its way around: whether or not to have Congress and regional parties as allies against the thriving Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Manik Sarkar, the outgoing chief minister who headed the Tripura government for 20 years, was opposed to such an alliance at the state or national level.

Two days after the BJP swept Tripura, the demand for an electoral understanding with Congress and regional forces got stronger inside the CPI(M)’s West Bengal unit as it began its four-day state conference. The crucial meeting began in the presence of party’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who supports the demand, and his predecessor, Prakash Karat, who vehemently opposes it.

Realising that sparks will fly at the conference, the CPI(M) exercised extreme caution. For the first time, the media was not allowed to enter the venue - Pramod Dasgupta Bhawan, headquarters of the party’s Kolkata unit - to cover the inaugural address of the general secretary. The rest, however, followed tradition. The meet will continue behind closed doors.

CPI(M) West Bengal secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra placed his internal organisational report before the delegates on Monday. HT saw the report, in which Mishra referred to the “current political crisis” and stressed on the need to have “a broad understanding” with other political forces and even individuals.

“Mishra has not named any party in his report because the electoral understanding we had with the Congress was nullified by the central committee after the alliance failed to yield any result in the 2016 (West Bengal) assembly elections,” said a central committee member from the state on condition of anonymity.

“The struggle to form an alternative government cannot proceed without the Left. We have to remove this NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government. These issues will be discussed at our party congress in Hyderabad next month,” said Yechury before the conference began.

Interestingly, a sizeable section of Bengal committee members are happy to see Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao showing interest in forging an alliance by calling upon regional leaders.

“Two days ago, Rao said at a press conference that he had a discussion with Yechury and on Sunday Mamata Banerjee called him up to offer her support. Even the Trinamool Congress chief knows that alliance is the only way to counter the BJP,” the central committee member cited above said.

Other than Yechury and Karat, two other Politburo members sent as observers to Kolkata are Brinda Karat and M A Baby from Kerala where leaders reportedly don’t want an alliance. The conference, which is being attended by nearly 500 delegates and observers from 23 districts, will continue until Thursday.