Exposing the faultlines in the I.N.D.I.A. alliance, the CPIM has decided not to nominate any member for the Coordination Committee, which was formed by opposition parties to decide on seat-sharing in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Politburo of the CPIM, which is the highest body of the party, toed the line advocated by its Bengal and Kerala units, which voiced their discomfort with forming close relations with the Trinamool and the Congress in the respective States. In these two States, the CPIM’s main rivals are I.N.D.I.A. partners Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool and the Congress. The Bengal unit had repeatedly underlined the importance of equidistance from the Trinamool Congress and the BJP in the State.
A Politburo member from West Bengal told The Daily Guardian: “We recognise the need to fight the BJP but for us, the Trinamool is no lesser adversary than the BJP. Hundreds of our comrades have been tortured and killed by the Trinamool Congress and its police in the past 12 years. What do we tell our supporters? We understand the need to prevent division of opposition votes but how can we sit in the same meeting in which a scam kingpin like Abhishek Banerjee is sitting? We want those responsible for corruption in Bengal to be punished.” The politburo, which met in Delhi over the weekend, also decided against sending its representatives not only to the INDIA coordination committee but also to any of the alliance’s structural organisations at the moment. One seat in the 14-member body, which includes Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, was left vacant for the CPM. A CPM central committee member said the Kerala unit had backed the stand of the Bengal unit.
The decision “doesn’t negate the possibility of forging an alliance”, said Politburo member Nilotpal Basu, a former Rajya Sabha member. “There are differences within I.N.D.I.A. bloc, and it is a reality,” Nilotpal Basu added. “Before the Bengaluru I.N.D.I.A. bloc meeting, Comrade Sitaram Yechury made it clear that in West Bengal, we think the fight will be against both the BJP and the Trinamool, in Kerala there will be a fight between UDF and LDF. You cannot have an electoral adjustment at the national level, it can only happen at the State level,” he said.
