CPI(M) to consider alliance with Congress in West Bengal: Prakash Karat

KOLKATA: Mentioning the 'popular mood' for 'ousting the TMC government', former general secretary of CPM, Prakash Karat today said that the party would ‘take into account the issue of forming an alliance with Congress’ later during a post-Plenum discussion to take a final call on the electoral tactics.

"There is a popular mood to oust the TMC government. Regarding alliance with Congress, we will take it into account when we will discuss the electoral tactics. The state committees were asked to take a decision keeping the situation of the respective state in mind. Then, it will be forwarded to the polit bureau for the final decision," said Prakash Karat, former general secretary of CPM. "Plenum is not the right platform for taking a decision on electoral tactics. It will be discussed in January and the party will take the final call on it," he added.

Commenting on the decision the party adopted during the party congress in connection with the alliance, Karat said, "In politics there is no Yes or No. the party is flexible on these issues and it will be decided according to the changing situation in the state. In Bengal, there is an extraordinary situation. So, the state committees will first decide on the issue and then the polit bureau will discuss it."

Meanwhile, the party has passed another resolution to increase women participation in the party. "At present, women members constitute of 15.5 % of the party. And the figure is not satisfactory. We have set a target to increase the women membership to 25 % in next three years," he adds.

The party has at present 10,56,000 members in the country. However, CPM is now focusing on the quality of its cadres. "We want more politically and ideologically sound cadres. There is another important issue of inducting more and more young leaders. We have around 20 per cent youth members in the party. However, they are not in the important position in the top committees," he added.