The two-day Polit Bureau meeting, which began this morning, was attended by General Secretary Prakash Karat, M.K. Pandhe, Manik Sarkar, Pinarayi Vijayan, Biman Basu and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
The main agenda of the meeting is to discuss the preparations for the extended Central Committee meeting to be held in Vijayawada in August.
“We will be discussing the preparations for the extended CC Meeting,” Mr. Pandhe told reporters before the meeting.
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He also said the meeting will have a preliminary discussion on the West Bengal civic poll results.
“The State committee has not yet discussed the matter. We will have a detailed discussion on it later. However, we will have a preliminary discussion here,” he said.
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However, the meeting which discusses the poll debacle is not being attended by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and State Industries Minister Nirupam Sen, both members of the Polit Bureau.
Mr. Bhattacharya has cited post-poll violence in the state as the reason for his inability for attending the meeting, Mr. Pandhe said.
Mr. Pandhe said 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.
‘Buddhadeb won’t step down’
Amid reports that Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has offered to quit following the Left Front’s drubbing in the civic poll, CPI(M) state Secretary Biman Bose said there was no question of the West Bengal Chief Minister stepping down from his post.
“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, who is in the capital to attend the two-day party Polit Bureau meeting, told reporters here.
His response came in the backdrop of reports about Bhattacharya offering to quit earlier this week after the Left Front faired poorly in the civic polls, which was dubbed as a semi-final ahead of the next year’s Assembly polls.
Out of the 81 municipal bodies, the Left Front won in only 18 municipalities while arch rival Trinamool Congress bagged 26. Congress bagged seven and the anti-Left alliance four. While results to 23 are hung, three have resulted in a tie.