CPI-M to introspect at politburo meet starting Monday

The two-day CPI-M politburo meeting beginning in Delhi Monday is expected to introspect, as the party prepares a draft political review for discussion at all levels.

This will be ahead of the 21st Party Congress to be held in April next year in Visakhapatnam.

Party sources in the know of things told IANS Sunday that the draft political review will look into account all political strategies that the party has employed since 1989.

One of the main reasons that the party has decided to re-visit the past is in the wake of the severe mauling it received in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

After cutting a sorry figure when it found its idea of cobbling a third front falling flat after initial promise, came the shocking result of just nine seats (five from Kerala and two each from West Bengal and Tripura) coming the CPI-M's way in the general elections.

The downslide for the CPI-M in West Bengal hit rock bottom last month when both its candidates forfeited their security deposits in the by-elections held there.

"The two-day politburo meeting is expected to come out with a draft which would then be discussed at the four-day central committee meeting of the party to be held in Delhi Oct 26-29," added the source, not wishing to be identified.

Once the draft is cleared, it will be discussed at all levels of the party and it will form the basis of the political resolution that will be presented at the Visakhapatnam Party Congress.

Today, the party holds power only in Tripura and is virtually decimated in West Bengal, while in Kerala, it has been seen as a failure.

The upcoming party state conference and the party congress are crucial as the local bodies elections in Kerala are scheduled in September next year, followed by the assembly polls in 2016.