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CPI returns to Basu's fold in West Bengal

Zakia Maryam in Calcutta

The Communist Party of India has decided against pulling out from West Bengal's Left Front government.

The decision came with CPI national secretary A B Bardhan asking the state leadership to withdraw the resignations of two of its ministers -- water resource development in-charge Nandgopal Bhattacharya and civil (defence) boss Srikumar Mukherjee.

They had pulled out from the Jyoti Basu government on March 7 to protest the CPI-M's refusal to help CPI Rajya Sabha MP Gurudas Dasgupta get re-elected.

Of the five seats that will go to the poll, the CPI-M has fielded three candidates. One seat has been allotted to another Left constituent, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, which caused a great deal of embarrassment to the CPI bigwigs.

Though neither minister had forwarded their resignation letters to the chief minister, they had stopped attending their offices. They had also stopped using their official car. Their resignation letters were lying with the CPI's state secretary, Manju Mazumdar.

Alarmed over the possible threats to the Left unity, especially in the wake of this year's Calcutta civic poll, the national leaderships of both parties were desperate to resolve the impasse amicably. However, Bardhan's reported remark that his party was not going to compromise on Dasgupta's re-election in Midnapore recently, it seemed, had put paid to all hopes of reaching a truce.

Basu too reportedly played a significant role in convincing the two CPI ministers to resume office from Wednesday. When contacted, all Basu would tell rediff.com was that he was extremely happy that he succeeded in solving the crisis.

The CPI-M state secretariat had held a four-and-a-half hour meeting at the party's state headquarter in Alimuddin Street on Monday. Almost all state committee members attended it.

Bhattacharya told rediff.com that he had only acted as a loyal soldier of the party. "I would abide by all the decisions taken by the high command. I have been asked by the national leadership to get back to duties tomorrow. It is only in the interest of unity that Mr Bardhan finally agreed not to insist for the Rajya Sabha seat," he said.

Elaborating, Mazumdar said the party high command had met in Delhi earlier on Monday and took the decision to rejoin the Basu cabinet.

However, sources said that Basu had a lengthy telephonic discussion with Bardhan during which the former reportedly pleaded with him not to hamper the Front's unity, especially when "Fascist forces were trying to occupy centre stage in state politics."

Though the Left may have succeeded in tiding over the present deadlock, political pundits see the recent developments as a pointer to the growing disenchantment among the partners. They say the Left will have to face more dissidence unless it overhauls its ideologies, which have failed to keep pace with the changing world.

They also said that the CPI-M should no longer be playing the role of a stubborn big brother if it intended to keep the Left unity intact.

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