CPI(M) to discuss tie-up with Congress to take on BJP, saffron brigade

The contentious issue of a political understanding with the Congress is the focal point of discussion in the three-day meeting of the CPI(M) central committee which began here today.

The Left party, which decided to keep equi-distance from both the BJP and the Congress in its last Party Congress in 2015, is likely to take up discussion on framing the draft political resolution.

The draft resolution will be debated in the next Party Congress of the CPI(M), slated for next year.

"The central committee will take up discussion on the suggestions sent by various party workers and also on the note of party general secretary Sitaram Yechury. The note written by Yechury elaborates his argument on why the CPI(M) is needed to ally with the Congress and other secular parties to fight against the Hindu brigade and the BJP," a CPI(M) source said.

Though the political line worked out by the CPI(M) in 2015 had precluded having any understanding or electoral alliance with the Congress in the fight against the BJP, the party had allowed state units to review the specific political situation before deciding their own tactical line in consonance with the overall understanding.

As a result, the West Bengal state unit had entered into a tactical alliance with the Congress for the 2016 Assembly election, which proved disastrous as the Left was relegated to the third position in the state.