No consensus yet in CPM on approach to Congress; question now in Central Committee

Consensus eluded top CPM leaders once again on the approach towards Congress, with the party Polit Bureau (PB) on Sunday deciding to report its "discussions" at the Central Committee (CC) meeting scheduled next month.

As the leaders could not find any common ground, the Central Committee will now finalise the draft political resolution for the Party Congress at its three-day meeting scheduled in Kolkata, beginning January 19.

The two-day PB meeting, which ended on Sunday, discussed two notes - one prepared by CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and another by his predecessor Prakash Karat - but both the factions only agreed to disagree.

Even as leaders continue to be at loggerheads, the CPM has extended support to the DMK, a Congress ally, for R K Nagar Assembly bypoll in Tamil Nadu. Its Gujarat unit has also decided to vote for the Congress where it is not contesting.

While the Polit Bureau is packed with those who support Karat, the game may be different in the Cenral Committee, as it had last time witnessed reassuring support for Yechury. Almost half of the 63 people who spoke at the CC meeting supported the Yechury line, prompting it to ask the PB to reconcile the differences.

However, the differences remained and now it is to be seen how the CC approaches the issue.

'Suitable' tactics

Sources said the note presented by Yechury argued for working out "suitable" electoral tactics to achieve the objective of ousting the BJP from power "without entering into an alliance or front with any bourgeois party".

This articulation, sources said, did not close doors for any understanding with the Congress. While agreeing with Yechury on ousting the BJP government as its prime objective, Karat argued that there should not be any political understanding with the Congress.

Sources said said Yechury was not in favour of including the formulation of "not having any political understanding with the Congress" in the draft resolution.

While arguing against an understanding with the Congress, Karat felt that there was nothing wrong in having a political understanding with regional parties even though they are in alliance with the Congress. Sources said supporters of Yechury found this impractical as it will lead to certain kind of dealings with the Congress at some stage.