Spawned by Hobsbawm

Prakash Karat has denied talking about the CPMs bleak prospects in polls in Bengal during a telephone interview to renowned Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm. However,some comrades are wondering in private how Hobsbawm talked about local elections if Karat made no mention of the same. The CPM general secretary is apparently arguing that he spoke to Hobsbawm in November last year and around that time by-polls were being held for 10 Assembly seats in Bengal. The argument being put forward in Karats defence is that the 92-year-old veteran historian might have spoken to him about those local elections or bypolls and not state Assembly elections as is being made out. It is still to be seen whether fellow comrades will buy this argument.