Officially, Bhattacharjee arrived at Hyderabad on Friday but could not reach Vijaywada early enough on Saturday morning to attend the ECC meet inauguration. However, all other party leaders including two Politburo members from Bengal, Nirupam Sen and Biman Bose, reached the venue according to schedule.

A leader in Kolkata said that ever since the Left parties withdrew support to the UPA government in July 2008, Bhattacharjee has become a dissenter. He believes that the current plight of the Left Front in West Bengal is the result of Karat’s decision, which forced the Congress to opt for an alliance with the Trinamool, a move that resulted a huge electoral successes.

“He (the CM) has been deliberately skipping CC and PB meetings during this period. At the last PB meet he virtually walked out,” the leader pointed out. “In fact the differences are not only with regard to the the withdrawal of support to the UPA government. Initially the hardline section of our party and other Left parties had opposed the joint operations in Lalgarh and imposition of UAPA on the Maoists. But after the killing of about 250 CPM comrades, these leader are admitting that the Maoists are a big threat for the party and the government in Bengal and should be dealt with courage,” he said.

In fact Karat, who had initially expressed reservations about the imposition of UAPA on the Maoists, admitted on Saturday that the CPM is under attack in West Bengal from the Maoists. In the draft political resolution, the CC has said, “After the Lok Sabha elections, the Trinamool-led combine launched an offensive against the party. In this it is being aided and abetted by the Maoists who are targeting party cadres, members and supporters.”