No Truck With Congress, Says CPM Chief Sitaram Yechury

Kolkata: CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury has ruled out any possibility of a front or alliance with the Congress.

Over the last few days, controversy had erupted over a statement by CPM Central Committee member from West Bengal, Gautam Deb, who had said on Friday that "the Left would not be able to oust the Trinamool government from the state on its own in next year's Assembly election." Asked if an alliance with the Congress was on the cards, Mr Deb had been quoted saying, "The party cannot rule out issue-based understanding with the Congress."

The comments by Mr Deb, who was a minister in the Left government and is head of the party's North 24 Parganas district unit, had upset a major section of the CPM on two counts. One, that even before the polls, if party leaders said they would not be able to defeat the Trinamool, the cadres' morale would take a hit. Also, any suggestion of any understanding with the Congress is anathema to many in CPM.

Speaking in Kolkata today on the sidelines of the state committee meeting of the West Bengal CPM unit, Mr Yechury said Mr Deb had sent a letter to the state committee detailing exactly what he had said at a recent press conference.

"It is clear from his letter that he has not said what is being attributed to him," Mr Yechuri said. "The CPM position is very clear. It was decided at our 21st party congress that there was no question of either joining a front or an alliance with the Congress. Mr Deb did not deviate from that position."

"The decision of a party congress is sacrosanct till the next party congress," Mr Yechuri added when asked if the stand on Congress could be reviewed at the party's plenum scheduled in November.

"I am telling the decision of the party congress. What will come about in time, we will take a decision. Whatever happens in the future will be dealt with as it happens," he said.

"We want unity of Left to achieve to oust the Trinamool," Mr Yechuri said. However, floor management in Parliament would continue with all opposition parties including the Congress, he added. "The Congress chairperson and I walked together to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on the Land Ordinance," he said.