CPM dual tune on Cong

New Delhi, Aug. 29: The CPM’s ambivalence over its relations with the Congress came to the fore yet again with its central committee approving an electoral tie-up with the party in Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir but opposing an understanding in Tripura.

After three days of deliberations, the CPM concluded it did not agree with the Congress policy in the Northeastern state, especially its ties with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT).

Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi early this week urging her not to support the INPT because the alliance would hit the people of Tripura and national unity.

The CPM defended its decision to collaborate with the Congress elsewhere by citing political compulsions.

The Congress is the only party in a position to take on the BJP in Gujarat. In Jammu and Kashmir, the CPM said it wanted to align with all those who were opposed to the BJP. The RSS has espoused a “disruptive stand” by advocating trifurcation of the state, which “conforms to the designs of the US”, it said.

Gujarat has become the testing ground for the saffron party and the CPM wants to ensure a one-to-one fight in the Assembly elections, the committee said.

The central committee meeting that ended yesterday took stock of the situation and decided that BJP should be defeated at any cost as the poll “outcome affects not only Gujarat but the future of the entire country.”

Asked if this meant the party will not contest the polls to ensure that anti-BJP votes are not split, politburo member Prakash Karat said “we will discuss it with our committee”. The idea is to limit unnecessary contests, he added.