Prakash Karat, general secretary of the CPM, may have urged nay sayers not to be ?in a hurry to write the Left?s epitaph? after its twin poll setbacks in West Bengal and Kerala, but it was clear that some changes are in the offing for the Indian Left in the near future.
As the party?s politburo met on Monday to deliberate on the reasons for its worst electoral performance in 34 years, there were murmurs that not just local reasons but the ?national political line? should too be reexamined. A person present in the meeting confirmed that ?the way things are going, VS Achuthanandan would be re-inducted into the politburo by the time the party congress is held in Hyderabad in June.? The outgoing Kerala chief minister had been removed from the politburo a couple of years ago and has had running battles with the party?s central leadership since. The party?s good performance in Kerala, however, has meant that VS, as he is popularly known, is in a strong position.
On the record, Karat was clear that the politburo has asked the state units to go into the factors leading to the party?s loss in the two states. ?Those who have written off the CPI(M) and the Left Front on the basis of these results are not only mistaken but will be proved wrong,? he said. However, he admitted that ?after the defeat in 2009, there were efforts to recover lost ground, but although our vote went up by 11 lakh, the opposition?s vote in West Bengal went up by 34 lakh. The people of Bengal voted for change and we respect it,? he said.
?This will require some long days of hard work to recover from this and we are ready to reestablish the importance of political organisation,? he added.
Sources in the party, however, say that Karat himself will be under some pressure and the first battle will be on the choice of the leader of the opposition in both states.