CPI marks itself present, CPM absent

At last Monday’s coordination meeting of the four Left partners, there was some confusion over how the Left should treat this meeting especially when the agenda wasn’t so clear. Nevertheless, all four partners agreed to attend though they felt they should not attach much significance to it.

There was a change of mind only this morning when other Left parties received phone calls from the CPM leadership. Apparently, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan received a call from his counterpart in the CPM, Harkishen Singh Surjeet. The two minor partners, RSP and Forward Bloc, were also informed of the CPM’s decision to stay away.

Forward Bloc and RSP leaders Debabrata Biswas and Abani Roy decided to fall in line. But Bardhan did not. The CPI, a partner of the ruling coalition in Manipur, had more stakes and decided to use this opportunity.

Said CPM’s West Bengal general secretary Anil Biswas: ‘‘The agenda did not interest us.’’ Surjeet told reporters that his party was not going to 7, Race Course Road, because ‘‘we think that next week’s meeting is more important.’’ From Patna, CPM politburo leader Sitaram Yechury told agencies the same. Even RSP and Forward Bloc took the same line in explaining their absence.

Stepping out from the meeting, parliamentary affairs minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that not too much should be read into their staying away. ‘‘Yechury is away and Surjeet is ill,’’ was the Congress explanation, which hardly explained why even RSP and Forward Bloc were missing.

The CPM has been careful in maintaining a discreet distance from the Congress and the allies. It wants to delineate a lakshman rekha in its relationship with these parties. Having decided to support the government from outside, the identity question has become extremely important to the CPM.

On the other hand, the CPI has preferred to be seen as toeing a much softer line. Its offer that the two Communist parties merge has only just been spurned by the CPM leadership. The party was much more open to the idea of joining the government but refrained from doing so with the other Left allies disagreeing vehemently. By accepting the UPA invitation this evening, the CPI wanted to send a message—there are shades within the Left which cannot be kept concealed all the time.

Later Bardhan said that ‘‘austerity measures and lower fuel consumption’’ were suggested as possible methods to keep the fuel bill in check.