New Delhi: A politburo meeting was called on Monday to discuss how the CPM could form the next government. Instead, they ended up discussing their own shaky future, specially after losing 17 seats of the 26 the CPM had last time in their bastion - West Bengal.
The chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya did not attend. Sources say he had even offered to resign, officially the party denies this and plays down his reasons for not attending the meeting.
Politburo member, CPM, Sitaram Yechury, said that he didn't offer to resign; he didn't come down because he was scared there would be an attack.
But it won't be as easy for the party to paper over cracks between the workers and the leaders.
There's anger that the top leadership left the Congress which led to the victorious Congress-Trinamool alliance in Bengal. And that they could not convert the CPM's issues like the nuclear deal into vote-winners. Also that the Third Front created the spectre of instability.
The Politburo meet got over but perhaps the process of soul searching has just begun. Various state units of the CPM are supposed to give in writing what they thought did not work for the party in these elections. The central committee will review these reports and perhaps the role of the central leaderships and their decisions.