It is being said that senior Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury has emerged slightly ahead in the power struggle with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), given that he has been elected as party general secretary for a second term. This would have ordinarily been no occasion for a surprise since Yechury is arguably the most visibly acceptable face of the Marxists in the country, but in the backdrop of intense wrangling for months within the CPI (M), which raised doubts about his re-election, the result assumes significance. But there is no need for Yechury-supporters to be over-enthusiastic.
According to some media reports, only nine of the 19 new faces included in the 95-member central committee are supportive of Yechury. Also, a good number of members in the 17-member Politburo are not fully aligned with him. It is true that his re-election and the adoption of a revised version of his political statement by the party a few days earlier indicate broad support for him within the party, at least on the issue of being politically flexible to strike alliances with parties such as the Congress in a bid to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that those in the camp have been quick to say that the amendments were no certainty that the party had diluted its stand of going it alone — i.e without the Congress. In other words, the final word is yet to be said, and we shall know better as the 2019 election approaches.
Meanwhile, the Congress at least can heave a sigh of relief over Yechury’s re-election because he has consistently advocated an electoral ‘understanding’ between the communists and the Congress. But this is no guarantee that such a pact will be sewed because the Left is also flirting with regional parties which do not want the Congress in their proposed grouping to take on the BJP. Besides, the Marxists have to consider the situation in two States, one of which it ruled until recently and another which had been its backyard for decades before Mamata Banerjee came along and demolished their hold. In Kerala, the Congress is the Marxists’ main rival, and any agreement between the two on a national scale could weaken the communists’ drive against the Congress and give an advantage to the BJP which is aggressively working to establish a foothold in this southern State. In West Bengal, if the Left aligns with the Congress, it will have to contend with the possibility of Mamata Banerjee turning her ire against the Congress — and the end result could be disastrous for both the Marxists and the Congress, since here too the BJP appears resurgent.
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