No Party With The Congress

In a meeting in Kolkata on January 21, the CPI(M)’s all-powerful central committee (CC) passed a resolution declaring that the party would have “no alliance, no understanding with the Congress in the 2019 general elections”. It was advocated by former general secretary Prakash Karat and politburo member S. Ramachandran Pillai.

- Kaushik Deka

General secretary Sitaram Yechury had sought to persuade the CC to ally with the Congress. His resolution won only 31 votes, against 55 for Karat’s, in the 91-member committee. Both Malayalis, Karat and Pillai had the backing of the CPI(M)’s Kerala unit. The West Bengal unit supported Yechury. Karat’s resolution does not rule out informal links with the Congress, nor does it neglect strategic goals that the parties might share.