CPM meet considers Yechury line

CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury got a boost as the Central Committee (CC) on Monday asked the Polit Bureau to incorporate his ideas on working with "non-Left secular forces", including the Congress, to oust the BJP from power, while finalising party's political line.

After a fierce discussion for the past three days, the party issued a communique saying the CC has authorised the Polit Bureau to prepare the draft political resolution for the Party Congress in Hyderabad "on the basis of the Polit Bureau outline and the discussions in the Central Committee".

The Polit Bureau will now meet for two days from on December 9 to prepare the draft resolution to be placed in the Central Committee for finalising it in three-day meet from January 19 next year. Once the draft is finalised, it will be put in public domain for comments and later placed in Party Congress for approval.

The party has already concluded that the BJP should be ousted from power but there is divergence in views between Yechury and former general secretary Prakash Karat's faction. While Yechury is of the view that the party should not "tie its own hands" by excluding the Congress or any other party or forces, Karat vehemently argues that CPM cannot align with the Congress.

The three-day meeting saw 63 people participating in the threadbare discussion where, sources said, 32 broadly supported the Karat line which rejected any links with the Congress.

Sources said 31 people were in support of Yechury, who argued that "a degree of understanding to achieve the objective of ousting and defeating BJP must be forged" while "not entering" into a political front with non-Left parties.

The impression given by a section of CPM leaders was that the issue would lead to voting in the CC and a possible defeat of Yechury's formulation. However, a large number of members found merit in Yechury's argument in the CC that surprised Karat faction and this led to top leaders to decide that a voting would further rupture the atmosphere in the party.

One of the surprise was the support of Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, whom many believed would toe Kerala faction's line, for Yechury. Kerala veteran V S Achutanandan also supported Yechury while there were leaders from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh who voiced apprehension about the Karat line.