A question is doing the rounds in the political circle: Will former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who has become crest-fallen after the poll debacle, participate in the CPI(M) central committee deliberation (or the post-mortem of the defeats in Kerala and Bengal) slated to be held in Hyderabad from June 10 to 12. Insiders revealed Mr Bhattacharjee has expressed his reluctance to join the meet to party state secretary Biman Bose. But a section of the party mandarins have been prodding him to come out from his “shock” and “self-isolation” and attend the meet to express his views on the defeat.
It may be recalled that Mr Bhattacharjee had expressed his desire to resign from the politburo and central committee immediately after the rout in the Assembly elections.
“The results have come as a bolt from the blue for Buddhababu. The after-effect of the defeat has just left him in a sort of trance,” a close confidante of the former chief minister said. He added that Mr Bhattacharjee still cannot grasp how the party could have lost and that too so ignominiously.
Apparently shattered, the former chief minister has fallen in his worst of times: spending most of his time in his chamber dissecting the district reports on the party’s poorest performance ever, said a party secretariat member.
Sources revealed, Mr Bhattacharjee has expressed his reluctance to attend the central committee meeting, albeit he appeared to be a “true captain of a lost battle” scripting the Bengal units’ report on the decimation in the Assembly elections which will be presented at the central committee meeting.
With Mr Bhattacharjee’s offering to relinquish his post, leaders are wondering whether party general secretary Prakash Karat will come forward to share the blame.
Sources said while Mr Karat has managed to persuade Mr Bhattacharjee to stay on, the latter is keeping his cards close to his chest.