Divided we stand: CPI (M) should be equidistant from BJP and Congress

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) meets for its crucial central committee meeting in Kolkata on Friday. The party is currently divided between party chief Sitaram Yechury and predecessor Prakash Karat over the CPI (M)'s electoral strategy towards the Congress and regional parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Karat camp disagrees with those following Yechury that there should be political and tactical understanding with the Congress in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. It argues that the CPI (M) should be equidistant from the BJP as well as the Congress, but that they should work to defeat the BJP. However, the battle is getting increasingly personal as Yechury's re-election as the party chief comes up at the next party Congress in Visakhapatnam in April.