CPI-M veteran calls for leadership restructuring

KOLKATA: The CPI-M would not be able to make a turnaround and counter the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal without undergoing leadership restructuring, veteran leader Abdur Rezzak Mollah today said in his latest outburst against his own party.


Mollah said that since CPI-M represents the "poor and the toiling class," this was not reflected in the levels of the leadership, most of which were filled with people from the middle class.

"The party can't make a turnaround until and unless there is a restructuring of the leadership. Our party is basically a party for the poor, but most of the leadership in the top level, medium level and junior level are occupied by people from the middle class. We need people from the poor sections who run sweat to make their living," Mollah said.

Mollah, a sitting CPI(M) MLA since 1972, had earlier drawn his party's ire by openly criticising the leadership, including former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, when the Left Front suffered a debacle in the 2011 Assembly election after being in the saddle for 34 years.

Asked about the ongoing panchayat election in the South 24-Parganas district, from where he hails, Mollah said at a booth where he cast his vote, "casting false votes and booth jamming are taking place rampantly."