CPI(M) Central Committee meets to discuss resolution for Party Congress

The Party Congress, which was to be held in April this year, will be held in Kerala's Kannur next April

The three-day CPI(M) Central Committee meeting began here on Friday with a preliminary discussion on the political resolution to be placed in next year's Party Congress, which once again brought to the surface division within the party over the stand to be adopted on Sonia Gandhi-led Congress.

The Party Congress, which was to be held in April this year but postponed owing to Assembly polls in Kerala and West Bengal among other states, will be held in Kerala's Kannur next April.

Sources said the opinion was divided in the meeting over the CPI(M)'s relationship with Congress with sections supporting General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and his predecessor Prakash Karat taking a divergent line. The Central Committee will end on Sunday.

The 2018 Party Congress had decided that the primary objective of the CPI(M) is to defeat the BJP and to achieve this, it could enter into an "understanding" with the Congress and other secular parties, junking the line propagated by the Karat faction. However, it was decided not to have any "political alliance" with Congress.

Sources said Central Committee members from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana among others, who support the Karat line, are of the view that there is no point in having any link with Congress, citing its electoral reverses, while their opponents like the West Bengal unit feel that the issue has been raked up again and again despite the 2018 conclave deciding on it.

Those supporting the Yechury line are of the view that the political situation has not changed and it is impractical to keep Congress out of the scheme of things in the fight against the BJP. They also think that the issue is raked up to prevent him a third term while those opposing any truck with the Congress deny any such motive and point towards the dismal show in West Bengal Assembly polls.

After the Central Committee finalised the points to be included in the political resolution, sources said, the Politbureau would meet again to prepare the draft document, which would be placed again in the Central Committee for finalisation.

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