The CPI(M)’s Bengal lobby in private agreed that it was some policy decisions of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government which were responsible for this state of affairs.
This development is an endorsement of party general secretary Prakash Karat’s line. Since the Lok Sabha debacle, Mr Karat had been insisting that state-related factors
ad led to it. Both, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose, had held the withdrawal of support to the UPA government responsible for their party’s plight. Their reasoning was that it was the Left’s pullout which had allowed the Congress and the Trinamul Congress to join hands. But after the civic poll rout, a chastened CPI(M) state secretary is now singing Mr Karat’s tune.
Mr Bose has attributed the back-to-back defeats to state-related factors which has resulted in the alienation of the people. This changed perception will be reflected in Mr Bose’s report which he will present in the politburo meeting on July 5. His shift to the Karat line has made Mr Bhattacharjee “isolated” in the party.
Pointing out the “social disconnect” as the main reason for the defeats, the review report of the state party says that since the Lok Sabha polls, the party had lost touch with the people particularly the poor. It acknowledges that the party must develop “an objective outlook and accept the ground reality” instead of blaming the withdrawal of support for its defeats.
Significantly, even Mr Bhattacharjee had to repeat the state party’s changed line that the poor had deserted the party. A senior CPI(M) central committee member said: “The wisdom that people have deserted us should have dawned upon us immediately after the Lok Sabha defeat. The withdrawal of support and Congress-Trinamul Congress alliance were lesser factors.”