Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury spar over Congress alliance

KOLKATA: Trouble can’t seem to stay away from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal. Electoral reversals apart, the fault lines between two of its top leaders appear to deepen with every passing day. The bone of contention is the “understanding” with the Congress Party for the recent state election, which was not in consonance with the Central Committee’s decision.

Prakash Karat, the former general secretary of the party and a senior politburo member, insists there will be no alliance or understanding in any form with the Congress in the future. However, comrades of general secretary Sitaram Yechury in the state toe the opposite line.

The differences have started affecting local leaders in the state, including those in the district and zonal committees, and has left the state committee divided. At the district level, party cadres are in two minds over whether to participate in programmes and protests organised by the Congress.

Yechury and state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra maintain the party will attend programmes jointly undertaken by the Left Front and the Congress in West Bengal.

However, Yechury’s predecessor, Karat, told ET: “The central committee has already conveyed its decision to the state committee about the electoral tactics taken in Bengal. There would be no future alliance with Congress. There cannot be a second line on that. The central committee’s decision stands across states. There cannot be a state-specific or a region-specific policy.”