CPM Central Committee To Meet On Saturday For The First Time After Assembly Elections

Kolkata: For the first time since Assembly polls, the Central Committee, which is the highest decision making body of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, is set to meet on Saturday. Ahead of the central committee meeting, the politburo will meet on Friday.

The three-day meeting which ends on Monday is crucial as the committee is likely to discuss the party’s performance in the assembly polls in four states and one Union Territory, and especially on continuing an understanding with the Congress in West Bengal.

In the recent assembly polls, two crucial states for the Left Front—West Bengal and Kerala—went to polls. While the party saw victory in Kerala, they faced their worst performance in West Bengal.

The central and state leadership are divided over the continuation of the alliance in West Bengal.

The politburo, in its last meeting in May, had come down strongly against tying up with the Congress in West Bengal. Several Left Front constituents had criticized the CPM leadership for “compromising” Left unity, alleging that it had forged an “opportunist political alliance” with the Congress in the state. However, the West Bengal state committee in their two-day meet last week batted in favour of continuing an understanding with Congress to fight Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state.

In West Bengal, the TMC managed to form the government for the second time by winning 211 constituencies while the Left and the Congress alliance secured only 76 seats. In Kerala, the Left Democratic Front won 91 seats, while the Congress-led United Democratic Alliance was reduced to 47 seats.

Ahead of the elections, a majority of the central committee members were against the alliance with the Congress. While the two fought elections together in West Bengal, they are in opposition in Kerala.