To ensure the presence of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who has had played truant and given a couple of party politburo and central committee meetings a miss, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has decided to hold the next politburo meet in Kolkata in August.
Left shocked by the Left Front’s humiliating exit from power and decimation of the CPI(M) in Bengal, Mr Bhattacharjee, who had earlier offered to quit the post he holds in the party’s apex body, also skipped the crucial politburo and central committee meet in Hyderabad, which was held to analyse the reasons behind the party’s poll debacles in Bengal and Kerala.
Significantly, Mr Bhattacharjee, who has confined himself to the party headquarters, still feels that there is nothing left to discuss. In any case, he still feels that it was Mr Karat’s decision to withdraw support from the UPA 1 that spelt doom for the party and the Front, a close associate of the former chief minister said. He also rejected the suggestion that Mr Bhattacharjee was too ashamed to face the central leadership.
Undoubtedly, Mr Bhattacharjee is under tremendous pressure after the crushing rout of the party in the Assembly election in which 23 Cabinet ministers lost. To add ignominy to the defeat, Mr Bhattacharjee failed to save his own seat although he addressed nearly three dozen meetings in his Jadavpur constituency. A section of party leaders believe that it was Mr Bhattacharjee’s industrialisation overdrive and, in particular, his land acquisition policy which alienated a large section of the people in the state.
Another section of the party, which is loyal to Mr Bhattacharjee, blamed Mr Karat for the debacle. This section believes that the politburo meeting may turn out to be an exercise in Karat-baiting.