Kolkata, January 15: Ahead of Assembly polls in four states and one Union Territory, the two-day Politburo meeting of the CPI(M) began here this morning, as the party battles through a difficut time in its strongholds.
General Secretary Prakash Karat and other members of the party’s apex body are attending the meeting, which is likelty to discuss poll strategies in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Pondicherry, besides the issues of price rise and 2G Spectrum scam.
The meeting, being held in Kolkata instead of in Delhi, holds a special significance as the party considers West Bengal its main stronghold.
It takes place at a time when the party battles to regain the vote bank it lost in several elections in Bengal over the past two years and the Opposition Trinamool Congress is in a dogged pursuit of power to deal a ‘final blow’ to the ruling Left Front in the Assembly elections, to be held by June this year.
The party, at present, also faces a tight situation following stepped up political violence in West Bengal and the Trinamool Congress harping on its demand for advancing polls.
The meeting precedes the proposed January 19 talks to be held between Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee over the state’s law and order situation.
The PB meeting was one of the reasons the Chief Minister had told Mr Chidambaram that he would not be available for talks in Delhi before the third week of this month.
The PB is also likely to take up Mr Chidambaram’s recent communications to the Chief Minister, which the party described as ‘biased in nature’.
–Agencies