Jyoti Basu rejecting PM post not factor; support loss in WB, Tripura caused CPI(M) decline: Karat
«It is a fact that the party's independent strength and influence have not grown… And that's primarily been due to the erosion in our base of support in West Bengal and Tripura, two of the strong states that we have,» Karat said in an interview with PTI.
«So, the focus of our forthcoming party congress is how we strengthen the party,» the CPI(M) interim coordinator added.
The CPI(M) had 43 MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009. Its tally declined to 16 in 2009, nine in 2014 and three in 2019. The party won four seats in the Lok Sabha in the 2024 elections.
In state assemblies, the CPI(M)-led Left Front was defeated by the TMC in West Bengal in 2011 after being in power for 34 years. It was defeated by the BJP in Tripura — which the CPI(M)-led coalition had governed since 1993 — in 2018.
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Speaking about preparations for the party congress, Karat said political and organisational reviews during the past three years had been done. Shortcomings and weaknesses in political, ideological and organisational work would be identified during the meet.
«Keeping in mind that… Our political task or goal still remains how to isolate and defeat the BJP or the Modi government, for that you need wider unity. We recognise that. How to maintain this wider unity, a broader platform, that we will have to strive for,» he said.
«At the same time, we don't see this as separate. Strengthening of the CPI(M) will also help strengthen the overall opposition unity or strengthening of the Left. And we feel that the Left's alternative politics or policies need to be projected as a rallying point for the fight against the various policies of the Modi government,» he added.
He also disagreed with the suggestion that the party's