CPM's ABSENCE FROM INDIA BLOC WOULD BE A HISTORIC BLUNDER

THE Communist Party of India (Marxist) is known for committing historic blunders'. A Marxist could have become the country's prime minister in 1996 had the dogmatic party leaders not stopped Jyoti Basu on ideological grounds. Barely twelve years later, the CPM made another blunder by withdrawing support to the UPA government when Manmohan Singh went ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal.

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The party had played a crucial role in shaping UPA 1.0's most-touted welfare scheme the jobs guarantee law-and was a powerful political force with its highest ever Lok Sabha tally of forty-three. But after it withdrew support to the UPA, the CPM slowly started disappearing from the national scene. With the new Opposition alliance INDIA coming together and CPM boss Sitaram Yechury acting as a glue among various parties, the CPM was gradually coming back in the limelight. But then the party's powerful politburo put out one of the most confusing political statements of