CPI(M) politburo discusses Ayodhya verdict fallout

Top CPI(M) leaders today held discussions on the prevailing political situation in the country in view of the Ayodhya verdict and were slated to give final touches to the party’s poll strategy in Bihar.

While the political situation in the wake of the Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya was discussed, the Politburo would also hold detailed deliberations on the Kashmir situation during the two-day meet, party sources said.

The CPI(M) has welcomed the government’s eight-point initiative on Jammu and Kashmir. It has sought a review of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the state, action against those security personnel who have been found guilty of excesses and release of protesters who have not been slapped with serious charges.

Preparations for next year’s Assembly elections in West Bengal and Kerala would also come up for discussion at the meeting, which is being attended by Bengal and Tripura Chief Ministers, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Manik Sarkar, besides other top leaders.

Senior Politburo member M K Pandhe said the political situation, especially in the aftermath of the Ayodhya verdict, came up for discussion.

On Bihar, the sources said the CPI(M) had already concluded a seat-sharing pact with CPI and CPI-ML (Liberation) for the Assembly elections in November. The CPI(M) is contesting in 30 seats, while CPI is fighting in 32 and CPI-ML (Liberation) in 78 for the 243-member Assembly.

At its recent extended Central Committee meet in Hyderabad, the party decided to project a Left and democratic alternative and strengthen Left unity through united actions. The electoral understanding in Bihar is a step in that direction, party sources said.

In its strongest base of West Bengal, the CPI(M) has been under attack from the Trinamool Congress and has suffered several electoral reverses. It claims to have lost about 200 workers to violence by Maoists and alleged that the Trinamool Congress was colluding with the extremists. “The situation (in Maoist-affected areas) is changing,” said state minister Nirupam Sen, while his Politburo colleague Biman Bose claimed the people in these areas of West Bengal were coming out to protest the violence “unleashed by the Maoist-Trinamool Congress combine”.

After it lost the Lok Sabha polls in Kerala, the party alleged that the Congress-led UDF was “consolidating communal and reactionary forces” and sources said that electoral strategy for the two states would be worked out in this context.