CPI leadership under attack for toeing Karat line

With the CPI ending up with a paltry 4 seats ? one of its worst-ever defeats in a Lok Sabha election ? its general secretary, A B Bardhan, has come under attack from within the party for blindly toeing the line taken by Prakash Karat.

Several members of the CPI national executive strongly feel that the leadership (read Bardhan) played into the hands of the CPI(M) on the question of the Third Front, and did not assert itself when it came to Kerala and West Bengal where the big brother ?dictated? terms.

CPI leaders from Kerala feel the LDF?s electoral adjustments with the PDP, forged mainly at the instance of CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, played a major role in the rout, as it alienated both secular voters and moderate Muslims. The CPI drew a blank in Kerala.

?We followed the agenda set by the CPI(M). We were humiliated. We were forced to take another seat instead of Ponnani,? a senior leader from Kerala said.

?Had they put enough pressure on the CPI(M) central leadership, the alliance with (Abdul Nasser Madhani?s) PDP would have been off. Unlike in West Bengal where only Left parties are part of the alliance, in Kerala it is the Left Democratic Front. The PDP is clearly a communal oufit and the CPI(M) should have realised this. Our leadership also remained a mute spectator,? the CPI leader told The Indian Express.

The post-poll analysis by the CPI?s national executive has emphasised the need for humility and for shunning arrogance.

A senior leader from Andhra Pradesh pointed out that the CPI knew from the beginning that the TRS would change sides after the election results. ?We were against the TDP giving so many seats (48 Assembly and nine Lok Sabha) to the TRS. We had told the central leadership but it kept quiet. We failed to assert ourselves and believed what the CPI(M) said,? he said.

The CPI has admitted that issues like Nandigram and Singur affected the image of the Left in West Bengal and at the national level. ?Instead of taking it up with the CPI(M) central leadership, we went into denial mode,? the leader said.