Follow Us
Suresh Dharur
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, April 20
In a boost to CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury's line, the party on Friday softened its opposition to the Congress and adopted a modified political resolution without voting at its national convention in Hyderabad.
The party’s amended political-tactical line removed the phrase “without any understanding or electoral alliance with the Congress” and added “without political alliance with the Congress”.
The climb-down comes after intense pressure from Yechury’s supporters who pressed for a secret-ballot vote on the amendments to the draft political resolution moved on Thursday by Politburo member Prakash Karat.
The modification of the Marxist party’s political-tactical line assumes significance in the wake of growing convergence among the Opposition parties on the need to build an alternative rainbow coalition to take on the BJP-led NDA in the 2019 general elections.
Though the CPM will not have a “political” alliance with Congress, there will now be a greater flexibility to have tactical understanding with secular parties, including the Congress, as part of a larger goal to defeat the BJP.
The internal differences in the party over the issue of electoral understanding with the Congress intensified during two days of debate over the draft political resolution. As the war of wits between the two camps threatened to reach a flash point with Yechury's supporters insisting on a secret-ballot vote, the Politburo stepped in to strike a compromise. As a middle path, it was decided to tone down the anti-Congress position. As a result, the key operative portion of the political resolution now reads: “The main task is to defeat the BJP and its allies by rallying all secular and democratic forces. This has to be done without a political alliance with the Congress.”
With an agreement being hammered out between the two factions, the decks now appear cleared for Yechury to get the second term as general secretary.
4
7
8