Calcutta, May 4: Former CPM MLA Asok Bhattacharya, who won from his ward in the Siliguri civic polls this year, is likely to be included in the party state secretariat, sources said.
According to a section of CPM leaders at Alimuddin Street, the members of the secretariat - the highest policy-making body of the CPM in Bengal - will be finalised at the two-day CPM state committee meeting beginning May 21.
Bhattacharya, if included, would be only the second leader from north Bengal. His comrade from Jalpaiguri, Monoranjan Roy, had made it to the powerful body in the seventies.
Many in the CPM believe that the Left would not have fared well in the elections to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation had it not been for Bhattacharya. The Left bagged 23 of the 47 wards, one short of majority.
"Asokda fought like a warrior in the municipal polls, leading from the front. This time, the leadership cannot neglect him. He is likely to be inducted into the state secretariat,'' a CPM leader said today.
Over the years when the CPM was in power - with Bhattacharya holding the state urban development and municipal affairs portfolios - he was often given a short shrift when it came to considering him for the state secretariat.
A section in the party found this a bit surprising as Bhattacharya was, and still is, known as a Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee acolyte.
Sources said former CPM state secretary Biman Bose had apparently not favoured Bhattacharya's inclusion on one pretext or the other as the Siliguri party strongman had criticised several steps adopted by Alimuddin Street.
After the CPM lost power to Trinamul in 2011, Bhattacharya had severely criticised the party leadership at state committee meetings, citing its "failures'' and putting the blame on Bose, a party leader said.
Within the party too, he was learnt to have advocated the "need'' to make Surjya Kanta Mishra the new state secretary, which happened in March.
Asked about Bhattacharya's likely inclusion in the secretariat, a CPM leader said: "Asokda has good equations with Surjyada. Moreover, this time Buddhada is backing Surjyada. All this has put Asokda in a comfortable position. Our party now feels that after the Siliguri civic poll results, he definitely deserves a berth in the secretariat as a north Bengal representative.''
A number of other names are doing the rounds along with Bhattacharya's.
Prominent among them are former Burdwan secretary Amal Haldar, Murshidabad leader Moinul Hasan, party central committee members Rekha Goswami and Ramchandra Dom, and Ganatantrik Mahila Samiti leader Minati Ghosh.
Haldar and Hasan, like Bhattacharya, have been vocal critics of Left Front chairman Bose during the latter's tenure as the CPM state secretary.
