In Bengal, CPM still split on portfolios

At about 9 pm, Basu left for his residence in Salt Lake even as other senior leaders decided to sit for a final round tomorrow morning, according to party insiders.

‘‘The absence of Anil Biswas, the departed state secretary of the CPI(M), was felt acutely today,’’ said another state committee member of the party.

As things stood now, the four contentious departments will be taken up for discussion once again tomorrow morning. If a decision eludes the State secretariat, the matter will be placed before the State committee to sort it out, added sources.

When contacted tonight, Basu said: ‘‘The portfolios were yet to be finalised. The things will be sorted out by the State committee of the party.’’ The State committee meet will be preceded by a State secretariat.

The trouble in the party began with the distribution of labour portfolio, which fell vacant following the stunning defeat of Mohammed Amin, the Labour Minister in the last government, from Garden Reach constituency. Shyamal Chakravarty, a CPI(M) secretariat member and the CITU state president was asked to propose a name for the post. But the names that were forwarded were not acceptable to a certain section of the party.

Similarly, there were differences over who should be given the panchayat and rural development departments — taken away from the earlier minster, Surya Kanta Mishra.

The Information Technology portfolio was yet another stumbling block. One section wanted a new face to come in place of Manab Mukherjee who held the IT portfolio in the last Cabinet.

The power portfolio was yet another contentious area. There was talk of allotting the labour portfolio to Mrinal Banerjee who held the power department in the last Cabinet and finding a new face for the power sector. But the powerful Burdwan lobby in the party disagreed.

Party sources said with the oath-taking ceremony slated for day after tomorrow there was little time left for any more debate. The Left Front committee meeting is slated to meet tomorrow and the party has to find a solution before that.

Kerala CPI proposes four names for berths

KOCHI: The CPI on Tuesday officially named its four MLAs for the Left Front to endorse for cabinet berths in the VS Achuthanandan-led government, assuming power on Thursday. It has also proposed its nominee as Deputy Speaker in the Assembly. The four CPI ministers will be Binoy Vishwam, K P Rajendran, C Divakaran and Mullakkara Ratnakaran. The Deputy Speaker-designate is Jose Baby. The Left Front will be coming out with a formal announcement about the size of its cabinet and allocation of portfolios only on Wednesday.