West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will not attend the full session of the Communist Party of India(M) extended central committee meeting in Vijayawada. Bhattacharjee's move comes days after Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan's decision to stay away from the meet.
Bhattacharjee has conveyed to the party headquarters that he will not be able to attend the full session from 7-10 August. He is likely to attend the first two days but return before August 9.
Party insiders feel Bhattacharjee wants to stay away when the crucial review document of the party comes up for debate. The review document, dealing with Karat's handling of the party's political-tactical line, is likely to rake up a storm as the dominant section of the party are heavily loaded with Karat loyalists.
Both chief ministers are known to be critical of party general secretary Prakash Karat's leadership. Bhattacharjee had regularly skipped crucial politburo and central committee meetings after the electoral debacle of the Left in 2009.
The official reason cited by the Bengal chief minister is: he needs to be in Kolkata on August 9 when the Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee holds a rally in the volatile Lalgarh area.
Bhattacharjee will remain absent when the party endorses most of Karat's decisions and recommend a few changes in the political-tactical line.
The Bengal CM will also not attend the mega rally in Vijayawada on August 10 as part of tha party's concluding ceremony where Prakash Karat will be the key speaker. Clearly, Bhattacharjee seems to have no time and patience to hear what Karat wants to say.
