But questioning the wisdom of the “party line” a central committee member from West Bengal says, “We must not forget that by pulling out of UPA-1 because of the “party line” we created space for a TMC-Congress alliance, which eventually led to our defeat”. “The Party congress, the supreme body of CPI(M) that takes decisions on such issues, has categorically stated its stand on the issue”.
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“Before we take on the TMC in the upcoming election (by aligning with the Congress), we have to convince our party leaders”.
Although there was lack of clarity on the exact number of dissenting voices, the number of people opposing the alliance was not negligible for a party like the CPM that prefers consensus. “We should shouldn’t commit suicide time and again”, senior CPM leader of South 24 Paraganas, Samik Lahiri said, voicing his concern when few members started grumbling about the move to join hands with Congress. Both the CPM and the Congress central leadership will have to find ways to pacify their Kerala units if the green signal is given to any arrangement.
Bhattacharjee, a CPM Politburo member and CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra had called upon Congress to join hands with the Left Front.
“This is a state issue”.
State Congress leaders, including the PCC president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, have kept up pressure on the high command by saying that workers on the ground want an alliance with the Left.
But the discussion at the state committee meeting was more direct as speaker after speaker highlighted the need for an alliance with the Congress.
Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Mohammed Salim and state Congress spokesman Om Prakash Mishra painted a grim picture of the state under the present rulers, Trinamool Congress, alleging that civil liberty was absent and opposition parties were victims of violence and terror tactics. The alliance with the Congress is certain to come up in the meeting.
“Central leaders today heard the views of the Bengal unit”.
“I want to tell them (Congress and CPI(M)) the alliance will not have an impact on the prospects of TMC in Bengal”. There is no harm in discussing with Congress. But the Congress has to call us for the discussion.
“How many times shall we commit historic blunders?”
“If the (Nano) factory was set up in the state, the situation would have changed in Singur”. There is a call for unity, an alliance. Why?
Taking potshots at the Congress and the CPI(M) for “opportunistic understanding”, she said that the two had become like two flowers of the same branch.
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Slamming the proposed alliance, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reminded the Congress that the CPI(M) had once mocked Rajiv Gandhi, calling him Bofors Gandhi, and caricatured Indira Gandhi. And finally, the coming together will be a de facto admission that neither the Left nor the Congress is strong enough to fight the Trinamool Congress on its own.
