Tripura poll result may strengthen Yechuri line; Speculations about ties with Congress surface again

The stunning defeat of the CPM in its basion of Tripura has sharpened debates about the party's upcoming national alliances once again. The general feeling is that the defeat may lend strength to General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri's political line that in order to take on the BJP at the national level, there should be suitable electoral alliances with other parties including the Congress. However, this strategy has been facing strong opposition from those including Yechuri's predecessor Prakash Karat, something that the party's Kerala wing strongly advocates.

The recent Kerala state conclave of the party also witnessed the same anti-Congress sentiment being in display at all discussions. It was reported that party Secretary Yechuri went as much as to say at the Kerala conference that CPM does not mean Communist Party of Kerala, and the party does not mean the party in Kerala alone. The defeat in Tripura comes closely following his pronouncements.

CPM circles have been actively discussing the party's debacle in Tripura not only losing power, but also seeing the BJP that did not have a single seat in the outgoing assembly romping home with a cabinet-forming majority. It is in this context that the two party strategies of Karat and Yechuri have surfaced again.

Yechuri has commented that the Tripura election result is not an item on the agenda of the party's upcoming Congress in April, and it is too early to say anything about what the party's decision will be. All the same, observers read his silence on the subject as an indication of the increased support his stance is getting.

A senior leader of CPM in Bengal commented that the Tripura result is adding strength to the idea that for defeating the BJP, all secular and anti-BJP forces should stand united. Congress had votes in Tripura, but the defeat in Tripura happened because the party could not instill confidence to the voters there.

However, the Karat faction takes the view that in Tripura, the Congress had helped the BJP. And Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat opined that the vote share of Congress fell from the earlier 36 to 2%, because the Congress leadership succumbed to the BJP.

The CPI, CPM's Left alliance partner and constituent of Kerala's ruling front, explain that the CPM failed to acknowledge the current trends and changes in the political climate. D. Raja, CPI's national secretary observed that in view of the strengthening of the BJP and its march to power, appropriate changes in political strategy have to be evolved and an anti-BJP coalition formed.

Meanwhile, in West Bengal CPM unit, with the loss of power in Tripura following the earlier unseating in Bengal, the view is crystallizing that there should be a radical change of political tactics and the party should co-operate with the Congress. In the backdrop of the party's state meet scheduled to begin on Monday, the Tripura defeat is raising several questions leading to the stand that to counter the trend new strategies need to be evolved. Sources close to the party expect the call for such alliance to be aired strongly at the conference.

Hannan Mulla, Polit Bureau member from Bengal reacted that the defeat is forcing the party to explore new paths. True, the party's draft resolution does state that there should not any understanding with the Congress, but in post-Tripura scenario, the party line has to be revisited. Mulla added that it is imperative for the party Congress to discuss this issue for which the draft document can have addendum.

Mohammed Saleem, another prominent member of the CPM Polit Bureau from Bengal also hinted that political tactics will be deliberated upon at the party Congress. A member of CPM's Central Committee indicated that in the new situation, the doors of co-operation with the Congress were likely to be opened. Even earlier the Bengal unit had raised the demand to join hands with secular forces including the Congress to encounter BJP, but all such arguments were rejected through vote with the strong opposition from Kerala unit and with the backing of former Secretary Prakash Karat.