Infighting may rob 'Bengal lobby' of politburo seat

Two vacancies in the CPI(M) politburo could cause an internal tussle that might be reflected in the forthcoming party congress.

West Bengal state secretary Anil Biswas died in March 2006, causing one vacancy, while the other was caused by the death of party's trade union leader Chittabrata Mazumdar.

While the "Bengal lobby" is keen to fill the vacancy caused by Biswas's death, someone from the "central quota", who will be stationed at the party headquarters in Delhi, may be named for the post. This is most likely as there will be several contenders for the job who will need to be dissuaded from fighting for it.

One Bengal leader less in the politburo will mean the dominance of the Kerala and central lobby over the Bengal camp. The politburo is the most important decision-making body in the party.

Mazumdar's seat will be filled up by CITU general secretary Mohammad Amin, who has taken up the post of Mazumdar in the trade union wing and will replace him in the party hierarchy. Amin has been working from Delhi for the past few years. He is a key trade union leader in the party and already a member of the CPI(M) Central Committee.

Party insiders feel the forthcoming party congress in Coimbatore might see a repeat of what happened in the 1998 party congress in Kolkata. The party congress, the highest political body of the party, chose not to induct any new member in the politburo as an intense power struggle was on between Biswas and Biman Bose. Both the leaders had strong backers and the party, facing contending support bases of the two Bengal leaders, deferred the selection by a few months. Later, both were inducted in the politburo.

Currently, there are two names doing the rounds as Biswas's successor "" Industries Minister Nirupam Sen and state CITU president Shyamal Chakraborty. Sen has the backing of the party's district committee of industrially-rich Burdwan district. This is one of the most powerful district committees in the party hierarchy.

Chakraborty, the former transport minister of the state, has his supporters among the Kolkata-based leaders. Of late, the conciliatory leader has become the popular face of the party, especially to counter the negative publicity following the Nandigram episode.

There is a third figure "" Binay Konar (brother of CPI(M)'s legendary peasant leader Harekrishna Konar). However, his outspoken nature earned controversy during the Nandigram and Singur episodes.

A large section of the central leadership might prefer to wait in order to avoid a power struggle in the party. As there is no possibility of a consensus over these two names, the party is likely to overlook candidates from West Bengal to fill up the vacancy.

Although there are no hard and fast written rules, representation in the politburo is usually proportional to the strength of the party in the respective states. As Kerala has more party members than West Bengal, the politburo will see more members from Kerala than Bengal.

West Bengal is already represented on the politburo by Biman Bose and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Further additions might tilt the organisational balance carefully maintained by the CPI(M).

While Prakash Karat has come through the central quota of the party as he is posted in Delhi for the last many years, V S Achuthanandan, Pinarai Vijayan and S Ramachandran Pillai have come in the politburo through the Kerala route.