The CPI(M) politburo’s decision to support UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee is a victory for the party’s Bengal lobby. Sources said that despite stiff resistance from the strong Kerala lobby, Bengal CPI(M) politburo members Biman Bose, Surjya Kanta Mishra and Nirupam Sen put across their case in a most spirited manner. Although the fourth member from the state, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, was as always absent in the meeting, his strong advocacy for supporting Mr Mukherjee’s candidature was conveyed to the politburo and general secretary Prakash Karat. The Bengal lobby received support for its cause from Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar.
Party insiders said that after a very long time, the Bengal lobby had been able to have its way on any major issue in a politburo meeting. The Bengal CPI(M) was dead against the withdrawal of support from the UPA-1 in 2008. However, in politburo, its voice was drowned. The Alimuddin Street satraps till today privately blame Mr Karat and his hardline colleagues for the Left Front’s humiliating exit from power in 2011. “If Mr Karat had not withdrawn support, the Trinamul Congress could have never joined hands with the Congress. By entering into an alliance, the two parties ensured that the anti-Left vote was not divided which resulted in a huge victory for Trinamul Congress in 2009 Lok Sabha election. The alliance also won a landslide victory in the 2011 Assembly election driving the last nail in CPI(M)’s coffin. Mr Karat’s obduracy was responsible for these setbacks,” a CPI(M) central committee member said. In the meeting on Thursday, the Bengal lobby took pains to explain why supporting Mr Mukherjee was in the interest of the CPI(M). “Mr Sen, Mr Bose and Dr Mishra informed other members about the great Bengali sentiment that is building up in favour of Pranabda. We are still carrying the stigma of a historic blunder for preventing Jyoti Basu from becoming the PM. If we do not support Pranabda then we will be hurting the Bengali sentiment once again,” the central committee member said. The Bengal leaders urged Mr Karat to take advantage of the changing political equation. “UPA ally Mamata Banerjee has gone on the warpath. If we support Mr Mukherjee, we will regain some political relevance,” he added.