Top West Bengal leaders, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen, did not attend the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau meeting here on Saturday even as the State unit presented a “preliminary” report on the civic body poll debacle in the State during the discussions.
However, the Polit Bureau decided to go into the issue after the State committee formalises its report by this month-end following assessments by local units.
Mr. Bhattacharya and Mr. Sen, both members of the Polit Bureau, did not attend the two-day meeting citing different reasons. The Chief Minister has cited post-poll violence in the State as the reason for his inability for attending the meeting.
This is the second time Mr. Bhattacharya is skipping a Polit Bureau meeting. Earlier, he had skipped a Polit Bureau meeting after the 2009 Lok Sabha polls where the Left suffered a huge blow in the State.
Mr. Sen had in the last meeting informed that he would not be available for this meeting as he had some family functions to attend.
“There was a preliminary report on the municipal polls. The PB decided to go into the review after the state committee reviews it. Once the State committee does that, we will go into it,” Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury told reporters here.
Earlier, State CPI(M) secretary and Polit Bureau member Biman Bose said there was no question of Mr. Bhattacharya stepping down from his post, amid reports that he has offered to quit following the Left Front’s drubbing in the civic poll.
“The question does not arise. The matter has not been referred to the Central Committee. It has not been discussed in the state committee,” Mr. Bose said.
The discussions on the draft political resolution to be placed before meeting of the extended Central Committee to be held in Vijayawada in August has also begun.
“The draft will be presented in the Central Committee in July and then in the extended CC meeting,” Mr. Yechury said.
The two-day Polit Bureau meeting began this morning which was attended among others by general secretary Prakash Karat, Mr. Yechury, S. Ramachandran Pillai, M.K. Pandhe, Manik Sarkar, Pinarayi Vijayan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
