CPI(M): No to Alliance With Congress in 2019 Lok Sabha Poll
NEW DELHI / KOLKATA : The CPI(M)’s central committee has adopted its draft political resolution and decided not to join hands with the Congress to take on the BJP in the forthcoming elections, including the general elections of 2019.
The Polit Bureau’s draft, which ruled out any alliance or understanding with the Congress and which was backed by its former general secretary Prakash Karat, was put to a vote in the Central Committee and supported by 55 members, with 31, including Mr. Yechury, opposing it, and no one abstaining.
The vertical division at the top leadership of the CPI-M on whether or not to go with the Congress had struck such high chords during the three-day meet in Kolkata that Yechury even offered to resign at one point. He was coaxed to retract from his position by senior comrades at the meeting, it was reliably learnt.
The resolution adopted by the 91-member committee will now be put up for formal adoption at the CPI(M) party congress, which is scheduled to take place in Hyderabad in April, which will be held right after the elections in three Northeast states.
The CPM-ruled Tripura is going to polls on February 18, while Nagaland and Meghalaya will vote on February 27.Once adopted, the party is bound to follow and implement its political-tactical line till its next party congress, which takes place once every three years.
Stitching together a coalition of all opposition forces is perhaps the only way to defeat the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the 2019 general elections. RJD’s Lalu Yadav proved it in Bihar. And the Congress gave the BJP a scare in Gujarat by cobbling together a rainbow social coalition.
Yet the CPM has refused to see the writing on the wall. The first setback to Opposition unity came in July 2017 after Bihar’s JD (U) Chief Minister Nitish Kumar abandoned ally Lalu and embraced the BJP. Other Opposition biggies like the SP and the BSP are still working on their internal issues and the RJD is facing a crisis with Lalu in jail for 3.5 years.
“As per the adopted draft resolution, there would not be any electoral alliance or electoral front with the Congress during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Left Front alone will fight against the BJP. Yechury said at a press conference at the State party headquarters in Kolkata.
During the 2016 West Bengal assembly election, the CPM had an understanding with the Congress over seat sharing. However, the CPM-led Left Front faced a rout in the polls and was relegated to third position, behind the ruling TMC and the Congress in its erstwhile bastion.
Calling it an internal matter of the CPM, AICC in-charge West Bengal, C P Joshi said: “The decision reflects difference of opinion within the CPM.” CPI leader D Raja said, “There is a need to build a platform to put up a united fight against RSS-BJP in 2019. I feel that elections in three Northeast states would present a clearer picture in this regard (united opposition).”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday gave a new spin to his push for a Congress-free India, saying what he really meant was to get rid of the kind of political culture the GOP had introduced in the country. “When I say, Congress-mukt Bharat, it’s not related to the election outcome.
It would be in the country’s interest that Congress is also freed of the Congress culture… That’s what I meant by Congress-mukt Bharat,” Modi reasoned in a TV interview. ( With Inputs from Kolkata our West Bengal Correspondent Santanu Banerjee ).
