On damage control mode, party meets ‘unhappy’ allies

Express News Service Posted: May 24, 2008 at 0119 hrs
Kolkata, May 23 In a bid to restore “friendly relations” with the allies, the CPM sought to hold meetings with its irate partners on Friday. As the panchayat poll results indicated a sharp decline in the popular support base of the Left Front, the “big brother” is now trying to “rebuild Left unity”.

A source in the Left Front said that CPM’s initiative was quite natural as this is the time when the party needs allies to form panchayat bodies in the rural areas.

“At many places, formation of a panchayat body will be impossible for the CPM without the support of the smaller partners,” said a senior leader in the Left Front.

CPM state Secretary Biman Bose, who had earlier blamed the Forward Bloc for Left Front’s disunity, spent Friday morning with the Bloc leaders at Alimuddin Street — the party’s state headquarters. In the bipartite meeting, Bose and the Bloc leaders, including its state secretary Ashok Ghosh, discussed the panchayat poll debacle.

Emerging from the meeting, Ghosh said: “We discussed the poll outcome. The reasons behind the losses are yet to be ascertained. Industrial policy might be one of the causes, but we are not sure at this stage. We will discuss the issue after having more details.”

Later, Bose and other CPM members also met CPI leaders, including its state secretary Manjukumar Majumdar and minor irrigation minister Nandagopal Bhattacharjya.

The CPM has decided to meet the RSP leaders separately, said a source.