The CPI(M) on Tuesday formally decided against an alliance with the Congress in West Bengal, but the party gave a go ahead to its State unit to forge any tactical tacit arrangement with the Congress to defeat the ruling Trinamool Congress.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters after the meeting of his party’s Central Committee that the support of all democratic organisations will be sought to defeat the “undemocratic” Trinamool Congress. He said the CC has authorised the party’s Polit Bureau to take a final call after the West Bengal State committee discusses the top leadership’s decision on the issue. “The Central Committee worked out, in accordance with the political-tactical line adopted at the 21st Congress, the electoral tactics for the forthcoming elections to the assemblies of West Bengal, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Puducherry and Assam,” a statement from the CPI(M) said.
A senior party leader said no front with the Congress will be possible in West Bengal. “There are some seats where a triangular fight is a must to defeat the Trinamool Congress.” He added that even if an understanding takes place between the Congress it will be modelled on Siliguri experiment where Congress and the CPI(M) has a post-poll alliance in Municipal Corporation. “In Siliguri, we gave a call to defeat the Trinamool at any cost. Both the Congress and the CPI(M) were benefitted in a triangular contest,” he said.
According to tactical line, in states, where the regional party is much stronger than the Congress or the BJP, the party’s struggles will have to be directed against it. “We have to keep in mind that just as the fronts of the Left and democratic forces advanced in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, similarly, the tactical line should give direction for the rallying of the Left and democratic forces in the other states. An all-India line of rallying the secular bourgeois parties for an alliance often detracts from the work of rallying the Left and democratic forces in the state,” it said.
It added that the State units can adopt suitable electoral tactics within the framework of the political-tactical line laid down by the Central Committee. “The main direction of our attack should be against the BJP when it is in power but this cannot mean having an electoral understanding with the Congress. Neither should there be an approach that the main task of fighting the neo-liberal policies should be subordinated to the fight against communalism,” it said.
The CC’s statement added: “In West Bengal, the main task is to restore democracy and foil the aggressive efforts by the communal forces to polarize the people in the state by ousting the present Trinamool Congress government. The CPI(M) will seek the cooperation of all democratic forces in the state to strengthen people's unity in West Bengal to defeat the Trinamool Congress, isolate the BJP and their machinations.”
Yechury added that it will be too early to say whether the Left will ally with Congress in West Bengal and added that the unanimous decision of the CC was taken after considering all the issues including the fight with the Congress in Kerala. “We want to strengthen the people’s unity in West Bengal,” he said.