CPM softens pact plan with Congress
The majority members in politburo are opposed to electoral or political understanding with the Congress.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the two-day politburo meeting failed to reach a consensus on the stand to be adopted towards Congress following serious differences between CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and senior politburo member Prakash Karat led faction, the latter seems to have softened its hard-line position to some extent. The Karat faction which enjoys majority support in politburo had rejected Mr Yechury's line of having a broader electoral alliance with secular parties including Congress to defeat BJP. While the faction remained firm on strengthening left democratic alternative, it was not averse to having informal understanding with secular parties including Congress at the local level especially in states where the CPM does not have sizeable presence.
The majority members in politburo are opposed to electoral or political understanding with the Congress. Even Mr Yechury had climbed down from his earlier position and opposed alliance with bourgeoisie and landlord-capitalist parties. However, the CPM general secretary favoured local level tactical understanding with secular parties depending on the concrete situation on the ground to defeat the BJP. The politburo discussions will be placed before the central committee meeting to be held in January. Both politburo understanding and Mr Yechury's alternative line will be debated extensively at the CC. In the run up to the CC meeting, the available PB will also try to hammer out differences.
The politburo discussions were part of the exercise to finalise the draft political resolution to be presented at the 22nd party Congress in Hyderabad next year.
Many in the party believe that the attack on the minorities especially the gruesome killing of a Muslim in the name of ‘Love Jihad' in Rajasthan, was the result of hatred being spread by BJP and RSS. The highly communal campaign by BJP in Gujarat elections clearly indicated the Sangh Parivar's agenda to polarise the nation on communal lines. A section of CPM leaders says the hate politics and aggressive Hindutva being pursued by the BJP is expected to reach dangerous proportions in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. It is in this backdrop that leaders like Mr Yechury are favouring a broader platform of secular and democratic parties to take on the communal forces.