Efforts to reinstate expelled CPI(M) leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee seem to have taken a back seat. After the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, a section of the West Bengal CPI(M) decided to pitch for reinstating Chatterjee — with Karat on the backfoot, they reasoned, it would be easy to get Chatterjee back.
When Chatterjee slammed Karat on TV and blamed him for the party’s electoral performance, erstwhile comrades asked Chatterjee not to say anything in public — his silence, they argued, would strengthen their case in front of Karat. But it now appears the party has more serious issues to discuss and is in no hurry to take back Chatterjee.