The CPI(M) Central Committee on Sunday voted out the position adopted by party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on the issue of aligning with the Congress and approved the one suggested by his predecessor, Prakash Karat.
The outcome of the voting means that only the document prepared by the Karat-led faction will be sent to the Party Congress.
The stance of the Karat faction is against having any direct or indirect truck with the Congress in the general elections due in 2019.
While Yechury and some leaders were of the opinion that the party must work out appropriate electoral tactics with the Congress, without entering into any alliance or front, to ensure the defeat of the BJP, the faction led by Karat stood firmly against any kind of political understanding with the Congress even though the primary objective is to defeat the BJP.
The Central Committee will now include the tactical line proposed by the Karat faction in the draft political resolution for the 22nd Congress. There is no divergence of views on the other proposals in the draft report to be discussed at the party Congress.
Even though the tactical line of Yechury faction was dismissed through a vote at the Central Committee, it is certain that the dispute would continue at the upcoming Party Congress. Obviously, the faction would strongly argue for amendments to the draft political resolution.
As many as 61 Central Committee members aired their views on the matter during the past two days, in which 34 representatives supported the tactical line put forth by the Karat faction whereas only 27 members endorsed the pro-Congress stance of the rival faction.
All CC members from West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, and Jammu and Kashmir supported the Yechury faction. Also, out of the five members from Tamil Nadu, three sided with the Yechury faction.
Apart from Thomas Isaac, all the other members from Kerala disapproved a tacit understanding with the Congress. Isaac opined that it is better to have further discussions before finalising the tactical line, so that an impression that the party is united in its fight against the BJP could be created.
There were indications that Yechury had strongly opposed against a division of vote at the Politburo. However, the Karat faction argued that the long-standing dispute could only be resolved through voting.
Since the Karat lobby is powerful in the Politburo, a decision was passed to put the matter to the vote.
The three-day Central Committee meeting will conclude on Sunday.
Yechury threatens to resign
If the faction’s tactical line gets dumped through a voting, Yechury stated that it would be difficult for him to continue in the post of party secretary. He made his stand clear at the Politburo meeting, which followed the CC discussions.
The other leaders pointed out that his stance would create an impression of disunity in the party and he should desist from such a move.
