Heated discussion expected today on Sitaram Yechury's Rajya Sabha re-entry

NEW DELHI: A heated discussion is expected in the CPM central committee meeting on Tuesday on the West Bengal unit’s pitch for a third Rajya Sabha term for general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Even as the Prakash Karat faction of the Polit Bureau hopes the Pinarayi Vijayan group-dominated Kerala unit to oppose the proposal, party veteran VS Achuthanandan has supported fielding Yechury for an unprecedented third full term in the Upper House.

With Central Committee members from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu appearing divided, party circles indicated the Bengal unit may even push for settling the dispute through a vote.

While the Karat camp has been arguing that a third term for Yechury will violate the two-term norm, Bengal leaders argue that the CC can change the rule in view of the “unprecedented situation” out of the BJP rule, and therefore, the need for an effective parliamentarian like Yechury, an argument that was reflected in a letter Achuthanandan reportedly written to the leadership in support of another term for Yechury.

Incidentally, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan who had left for Kerala to attend a NCP leader’s funeral is rushing back to Delhi. Incidentally, Yechury continues to maintain he is not interested in another term.

The Karat camp’s second argument that it would weaken the party if the general secretary gets elected with the support of Congress MLAs is being rebuffed by the other side as “hypocritical” given the fact CPM and Congress had inked an alliance in the last assembly polls.

They also point out that the Bengal CPM and Congress are not planning to make Yechury a joint candidate but CPM candidate for whom Congress MLAs will extend support.