Veteran CPI-M leader to skip state committee meet for 3rd time

Veteran CPI-M leader Abdul Rezzak Mollah will not attend the party's state committee meeting, to be held on January 4, for the third time in a row.
Mollah, an eight-time MLA since 1972, today said he had not conveyed his decision to the party leadership.
Asked for the reason of his repeated absence, the estranged leader said, "the reasons are old. If the party wants to know the reasons and decides to take any action, then only I will think of replying."
Mollah, a known bete-noire of former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has been staying away from party meets for the past few months without explaining his absence.

CPI-M central committee member Mohammed Salim refused to comment on Mollah's absence when asked to, but said," If a party member remains absent from party meets on a regular basis, the party leadership may ask for the reason."
Mollah in the recent past had openly called for restructuring of the party's leadership so that it could get back to the masses.
"If we need to get back the support base, the party leadership needs to be restructured and re-organised," Mollah had said.
After the 2011 Assembly election where it suffered a near-complete rout, Mollah had blamed the Left Front government's industrial policy for the reverses and directly blamed Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and then industries minister Nirupam Sen for it.