A day after its drubbing in the West Bengal civic elections, a senior CPI(M) leader acknowledged here on Thursday that there was a sense of disconnect and of “alienation” between the people and the party.
In a possible damage-control exercise, the party also appears to be looking at the option of bringing expelled leader Somnath Chatterjee, former Lok Sabha Speaker, back into the fold, and reinstating Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan to the party politburo.
Speaking exclusively to this newspaper, CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said: “We have to stop this aleination of people.” He said the West Bengal government had already started examining why it had failed to bridge the gap with those sections of people who had voted against the Left Front in the Lok Sabha polls in 2009.
On the possible return of Mr Chatterjee to the party fold and of Mr Achuthanandan to the politburo, Mr Yechury said these issues “will be discussed at the extended central committee meeting scheduled in August.” Referring to Mr Chatterjee, Mr Yechury said the party leadership was awaiting a report from the West Bengal state unit. “We have not received anything so far.” It might be recalled that Mr Chatterjee was expelled by party general secretary Prakash Karat despite vehement opposi-
tion from the West Bengal unit as well as the late Jyoti Basu, veteran Marxist leader. Mr Achuthanandan was also removed from the politburo when he opposed a close associate of the general secretary, Kerala state secretary Pinyari Vijayan, when he was chargesheeted by the CBI in the Rs 370-crore
SNC Lavalin scam. Mr Karat not merely refused to drop Mr Vijayan following these charges but instead removed the Kerala chief minister from the politburo for raising the issue of corruption in the state unit.
Mr Yechury tried hard to defend Mr Karat for his decision to not remove the state secretary, saying: “We could have removed him if he (Pinyari Vijayan) held any official position.” He went on to reiterate that the CPI(M) “feels that the charges against him were politically motivated ... and we are fighting it politically and legally.”
On West Bengal, Mr Yechury said the Left perhaps became a “victim of strong anti-incumbency”.