CPM: Tieup with Cong in Bengal ‘tactical blunder’

A two-day CPI(M) politburo meeting that concluded in the capital on Monday saw detailed reviews of the recent election results in West Bengal and Kerala as well as two years of the Modi government at the Centre.

Sources said while the members were satisfied with the party’s performance in Kerala, there were sharp differences within the politburo over the alliance with the Congress in West Bengal.

Some members, said party sources, were of the opinion that the alliance with the Congress might have adversely affected the CPI(M) as the alliance managed to win only 77 seats in the state, out of which the CPI(M) won only 26 – down from 40 in the 2011 Assembly polls.

The party’s vote share also dropped to 26.6 per cent (it was 29.94 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls).

“It seems that an alliance with the Congress was a tactical blunder for us as both, seats and vote share, dropped. I feel the voter was confused with the alliance as we were contesting the West Bengal elections together while fighting against each other in Kerala. The party leadership needs to learn a lesson from the West Bengal elections and should be much more careful in future. I don’t think there will be any electoral understanding with the Congress in future,” a senior party functionary said.

Meanwhile, while attacking the Modi government, the party said the NDA had conducted a “gaudy celebration” on completion of two years in office and only made “bombastic claims”.’

Criticising the economic policies of the Centre, a statement issued by the party stated: “Labour intensive industries are in a six-year low. In 2015, official figures revealed that only few new jobs were created in the country as against the promise of creating 2 crore new jobs annually. Every year, over 1.3 crore Indian youth join the job market.

“There has been a worst decline in exports in 63 years — a decline of 17 months in a row; 2997 farmers committed suicide in 2015, 116 farmers in January-March 2016 and the country is facing severe drought...”

Rural wages have declined in real terms in a decade and saving bank deposit growth is at a 53-year low...”

The NPAs of banks are more than Rs 13 lakh crore and growing. While there is 27 per cent zero-balance Jan Dhan accounts, there are 33 per cent duplicate accounts. On top of this, the agrarian distress is worsening. The Modi government promised minimum of 50 per cent profits over cost of production but this has not happened.”

The politburo also expressed concern over the “sharpening communal polarisation” and racial attacks on people of African origin.

A politburo member said the state committees of West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu would meet soon to analyse the election results.