File picture of former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee with present CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
CPM chief Sitaram Yechury had lunch and spent close to two hours on Sunday with former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The veteran leader had been expelled from the party in July 2008 for refusing to quit the Speaker's post as the Left withdrew support to the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Mr Yechury had gone to Bolpur - which used to be Somnath babu's constituency -- to open a project funded with his parliamentarian's funds. But the CPM boss made it a point to drop in at Mr Chatterjee's home.
In the last two weeks, this was Mr Yechury's second meeting with Mr Chatterjee. The two had shared stage in Kolkata on July 8 at an event to celebrate Jyoti Basu's birth anniversary.
The association could be permanent. The CPM faces a tough test next year as both West Bengal and Kerala go to polls. Keen to make a political comeback, the Left is now hoping to gain from the experience of its expelled veterans and put up a tough fight.
"The leaders who have a long history of working with the people definitely influence them and our party will gain from it," party veteran Hannan Mollah told NDTV.
The West Bengal unit of the CPM has already recommended a re-induction for Mr Chatterjee, who had been expelled by the party's highest executive body, the Central Committee. The same committee will now have to take a final decision on reversing the expulsion.
But the process has started and it is clear from the statements of the party's top leaders. "He has always worked for the party," Mr Yechury had said after his meeting with Somnath babu.
"There are some processes that need to be followed. Otherwise there is no problem," said Mr Mollah, who was also Mr Chatterjee's former colleague in the Lok Sabha.
In Kerala, where the CPM is in the opposition, the re-induction of old hands is complete. The party will see the homecoming of 96-year-old Gowri Amma, who was a minister in the Kerala government of 1957 -- the first-ever communist government in the country.
Expelled in 1994 for anti-party activities, Gowri Amma will be back in the party fold after two decades.