Call for Karat's ouster at key CPI(M) meet

The Central Committee, key decision-making body of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), had heated debate about the party's rout in the recent general election.

A senior member in the committee demanded the resignation of General Secretary Prakash Karat for the poor performance. Many others also made a scathing attack on the party leadership and its policies and style of functioning.

Business Standard on May 25 had reported that an anti-Karat group was preparing for a showdown at this meet. However, the 'Kerala lobby', solidly behind Karat, came to the rescue of the general secretary, saying "it was collective responsibility" and a leader should not be singled out. A leader said the party should look at the future and prepare itself to meet the emerging challenges posed by "communal forces".

The top leadership's line of defence to the criticism was "the party failed to gauge the public mood" and emphasised the need to reach out to different sections of society. Speakers expressed concern over the "alarming" rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the "migration of CPI(M) votes to the BJP in both Kerala and West Bengal".

This is the second time at such a meet that the party is raising concern over the BJP's rise in voting percentage in Kerala. According to a leader, at least 75,000 party votes might have gone to the BJP's O Rajagopal in Thiruvananthapuram, where the Left Democratic Front (LDF)P candidate came a poor third. In West Bengal, too, the BJP ate into their vote base.

A section of the members also trained their guns on the West Bengal state leadership, especially Biman Bose and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, for the party's near-decimation there. There has been a demand for their resignation, too.

Former Chief Minister and 'rebel' CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan lashed at the Kerala unit's leadership for failure to "save the Left unity" in the state - one of the LDF partners, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), had quit the front and joined the rival Congress-led United Democratic Front. The RSP's N K Premachandran had defeated CPI(M) senior M A Baby in Kollam. Achuthanandan said faulty ticket distribution had also resulted in the poor performance.

Several delegates from other parts of the country also criticised the Kerala unit for its failure to "tap into the strong anti-Congress wave prevailing in the country".