The West Bengal unit of the CPM will begin discussing poll strategy only in January, is all the party general secretary was willing to say.
The West Bengal unit of the CPM will begin discussing poll strategy in January. That was the only point party general secretary Sitaram Yechury would confirm when repeatedly asked: will the CPM join hands with the Congress ahead of the Assembly polls in West Bengal and Kerala?
At a press conference on Monday, between plenum sessions, Mr Yechury was asked the question in five different avatars. The plenum was not talking poll strategy, he said, only organisation.
But the question refuses to go away. And the answers don't quite put the lid on the issue.
First question: Will CPM follow the Bihar model in Bengal? Read: Will CPM- Congress join hands?
Mr Yechury: No such discussion at plenum.
But what he adds leads to more questions.
"On the basis of party congress decisions, the strategy on elections will be decided by each state committee, depending on ground situation in the state," he says.
Next question: at Sunday's rally, CPM leaders attacked BJP and the Trinamool but not the Congress. Does that mean CPM and Congress will join hands?
Mr Yechury: "You are free to interpret. Don't expect me to confirm or deny your interpretation."
Another question, couched differently: Are you saying state units can decide differently?
Mr Yechury : "No state committee of CPM is autonomous. They have to take decisions in accordance with the central understanding of the party that is there in the party congress resolutions."
Some other queries and then again: did you mean Bengal can say yes to Congress and Kerala no?
Mr Yechury: "I don't think there will be any contradictory stage come in our party. Report the news as it is today, not on the basis of what you think should happen in the future."
The question remained unanswered.