In Sitaram Yechury, state CPM sees hope for ‘Bengal line’

Insiders said a large number of central committee members threw their weight behind Yechury against S R Pillai.

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Sitaram Yechury at the CPM party congress in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. (Source: PTI photo)

The appointment of Sitaram Yechury as CPM general secretary has been welcomed by West Bengal leaders, who associate him with the so-called “Bengal line” of Marxism that implies a moderate, liberal and reforms-oriented approach to party programmes and policies.

Gautam Deb, a CPM central committee member, said: “I don’t understand either the Bengal line or the Kerala line, but the appointment of Sitaram Yechury definitely comes as good news for the party in West Bengal.” Deb said the party was looking forward to a plenum to give final touches to the process of change that this 21st CPM party congress has initiated in Visakhapatnam.

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Yechury, elected the last two times from Bengal to the Rajya Sabha, is close to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Nirupam Sen, both of whom are out of the politburo on grounds of health. Md Salim, also close to Buddhadeb, has been inducted.

Yechury and Buddhadeb have shared the same views on many crucial matters including the crucial strategic alliance with the Congress under the present political dispensation. Again, it was under Prakash Karat’s leadership that the CPM withdrew support to UPA-II in 2008, which many Marxists in Bengal believe contributed to the Trinamool’s rise and the Left Front’s downfall.

Insiders said a large number of central committee members from West Bengal and Tripura, and a section from Kerala, threw their weight behind Yechury against S R Pillai.

The CPM pointed out that in both West Bengal and at the national level, the party general secretary is also the parliamentary party leader. In West Bengal, Surya Kanta Mishra is now the state secretary as well as the legislature party head. Yechury, in turn, is the all-India general secretary and the parliamentary party head.

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