At the extended Central Committee meeting of the CPI(M) in Vijayawada, many speakers were busy slamming the West Bengal unit of the party during the first two days. Finally, Sitaram Yechury, top Politburo member and a Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal, defended the state. Yechury quoted a Russian proverb used by V Lenin: “At times, a hen can fly above an eagle when the latter stoops down to catch its pray, but a hen can never achieve the height of an eagle.”