HYDERABAD: Day-long discussions on CPM’s draft political resolution could not result in the party arriving at a consensus on Thursday, leading to speculation that a vote on the party’s political tactical line may be necessitated on Friday.
Sources said that though the central committee weighs heavily in favour of former general secretary
Prakash Karat, present incumbent
Sitaram Yechury has an upper hand at the party
congress, where he also managed to table his ‘minority view’ on the political resolution even after it was rejected by the central committee in January.
Of the 786 delegates attending the party congress, a little more than 390 are believed to be backing Yechury’s line, pushing for an ‘open’ approach to secular, democratic forces, including Congress.
Even as rumours of a likely split gained ground on Thursday, it appeared likely that delegates from
West Bengal may push for a secret ballot hoping that numbers in favour of Yechury may go up further. The CPM party constitution does not have a laid down procedure for voting.
As per convention, voting at party congresses has always been done by a show of hands. The final decision, however, rests with the 16-member politburo, where it is believed Yechury may have his way.
The Karat lobby, while in consonance with Yechury on the threat the RSSBJP poses, and the need to “oust BJP-RSS governments,” that believes this must be achieved without any understanding with the Congress.
Clarifying there was no dispute over the “question of electoral alliance,” Yechury said, “We have an intellectual property right over the term ‘outside support’. If you go into our history, we are never part of any alliance or any front. There is no dispute on the fact that the priority today is to defeat this
BJP government. How to achieve this is what we are democratically discussing.”