CPM meet to chalk out strategy for civic polls

In a bid to counter the Trinamool Congress,the CPM state committee is scheduled to meet on January 30-31 to devise a strategy for the upcoming Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls.

In a bid to counter the Trinamool Congress,the CPM state committee is scheduled to meet on January 30-31 to devise a strategy for the upcoming Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) polls.

Following the meet,all the 19 district committees are likely to be asked to carry out the partys diktat in selecting candidates. Primarily,the top brass at the Alimuddin Street has decided that in most of the 82 municipalities,the party would field new candidates. It also plans to take Congress supporters at the grassroots level into confidence.

We will appeal to the Congress supporters who are honest to political causes and have no link with the Trinamool Congress and Maoists to vote for the Left Front, said Mohammed Selim,CPM central committee member.

According to sources,the party is looking for candidates with a non-political image. At least 3,000-odd candidates would be selected to contest the election. The candidates may come from all walks of life,including white collar professionals,because the party feels that functioning of the rank-and-file is the main reason behind the poor performance in the recent past.

Based on the guidelines of the state committee,the concerned zonal committees will select candidates,subject to the approval of the district committees, said Selim.

In political circles,the civic poll is being touted as the semi-final before the 2011 Assembly polls. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls,among the 141 segments in KMC,only 16 segments were won by the ruling part the rest went to the Opposition. In this situation,the state committee reserves its right to select candidates for the upcoming election. The KMC election is a matter of prestige for the party, said a senior CPM leader.

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