In an effort to plug the growing discontent among party cadres, the CPI(M) is planning to send letters to its nearly three-lakh members explaining why the party had to expel Somnath Chatterjee from his primary membership. The letters will be delivered through the party’s 26,000 units spread across Bengal. According to insiders, the party’s decision came at a time when the expulsion issue had already raised uncomfortable questions before the Politburo. In the two-day state committee meeting which ended on Sunday, party general secretary Prakash Karat had to explain the reasons behind the expulsion. However, most of the leaders were unconvinced, claiming the Politburo took the decision in a haste. In the meeting, a state committee member and minister Manab Mukherjee asked for an explanation why the Politburo did not wait for another 15 days before taking the decision. Other leaders, including Tarit Topdar and Subhas Chakraborty, were also critical of the decision taken by Karat. Karat, meanwhile, said that party’s state secretary Biman Bose and chief Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee were also taken into confidence before deciding on Chatterjee’s fate. On the second day of the meeting, the issue was raised again by a sizeable section of the members, in the presence of Bose and Bhattacharjee, sources said. The members also expressed their concern at the ‘deteriorating’ party’s image at the grassroots level in Bengal.
