CPM to discuss poll reverses

Bengal chief minister to skip meet

The meeting would particularly discuss the party's poor performance in its bastions of Kerala and West Bengal.

The party's chief ministers in Kerala and Tripura, VS Achutanandan and Manik Sarkar, would be amongst the leaders attending the politburo meeting, while their counterpart from West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, would stay back to monitor the state's law and order situation. However, other politburo members from the state, including Biman Bose and Nirupam Sen, are expected to attend the meeting.

Much of the focus will be on evolving a strategy to bounce back in Kerala and West Bengal, which would face assembly elections in 2011. Despite convening the politburo, the party has cancelled its central committee meeting on Tuesday. 

Though the defeat is generally blamed on its national policies, party sources have attributed the loss to local issues. There have been mounting concern amongst its leaders if the party has alienated the rural and urban poor -who have been their traditional backers. The party will also ascertain if loss of land has been a major fear amongst the rural voters in West Bengal.

However, alienating Muslim voters is likely to be a major worry for the party, according to the sources. The issue of nuclear deal is not considered as a major reason, since it has only upset the capitalists and business class.

Buddha sulking?

Although sources close to the Chief Minister claimed here on Sunday that he could not afford to leave the state in view of an escalating tension between the CPM and Trinamool Congress-Congress supporters fearing law and order problem, speculation is rife on possible reasons for his decision to skip the meet.

Bhattacherjee’s decision to stay back here in the city has fuelled speculation that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Bengal lobby is extremely unhappy with party general secretary Prakash Karat. Bhattacherjee’s abstention is being viewed with serious significance in the political circles. Since the Left Front’s debacle in Bengal under his stewardship, the Chief Minister has declined to meet the media.
While the Front coalition partners have indirectly refused to share the blame of the debacle which they felt was due to CPM’s land acquisition policy, fallout of the Nandigram and Singur agitations, the party has tried its best to deflect this volley.