Sitaram Yechury offers to resign as general secy after Karat faction scuttles his plan to ally with Congress

It appears that during the three-day central committee meeting which concluded on Sunday, former Rajya Sabha member Sitaram Yechury offered to step down from his post of general secretary.

According to a report in Livemint, Yechury offered to step down after he learned that his proposal to align with Congress to take on BJP didn’t have majority support.

While the general secretary was in favour of aligning with Congress, 55 of 90 voted against aligning with the grand old party. 31 voted in favour, and while even those who were opposed to aligning with Congress agreed that BJP was the main political enemy.

The draft prepared by the Yechury-led faction, which had favoured adjustment with the Congress to stop the BJP, was defeated in voting by the Kerala delegation led by politburo member Prakash Karat.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury's draft resolution proposing an alliance with the Congress was today voted against by the party's central committee, which ruled out any form of electoral ties with the party.

Briefing reporters, Yechury said that the draft resolution was adopted after voting.

"It is a majority decision and this draft was adopted.

All matters will go before the party, which is the highest authority to take a call on our political-tactical line," he said.

On whether he would tender his resignation as his political line had been defeated, Yechury said, "I am here as the general secretary of the CPI(M) as the politburo and the central committee says that I should be the general secretary of the CPI(M), so this answers your question."

The Karat-led faction had opposed any sort of direct or indirect alliance with the Congress.

"The draft political resolution adopted after incorporating some amendments, states that there is no electoral alliance or understanding with the Congress," Yechury said.

The committee voted against the draft, proposed by its general secretary, with 55 delegates voting against and 31 in favour.

The draft resolution, which was adopted on the concluding day of the three-day meeting here, will be released for discussion within the CPI (M) two months before the party congress scheduled in April.

The draft prepared by the victorious Karat-led faction will go for further discussions. It stood against any political understanding or adjustments with the Congress even though the primary objective was to defeat the BJP.

According to CPI(M) sources, Yechury had last night expressed his desire to quit from his post, stating it would be difficult for him to continue, if his political line was defeated in voting.

Sensing that his draft might be defeated in the meeting, Yechury had tried hard to avoid voting on the issue.

An urgent politburo meeting was also convened last night to take a call on the matter, but it failed to resolve it.

"The point is, what happens internally in the party, I don't need to say that here," Yechury said.

Party sources said, two draft political resolutions were placed in the central committee meeting.

The one that favoured adjustment with the Congress had the support of the party general secretary, the CPI(M) West Bengal unit and a large section of the Tripura unit.

It proposed that the CPI(M) should be open to a UPA-1 like political alliance when the party had extended outside support to the Congress government at the Centre.

The other draft was against any alliance with the Congress and proposed a broader unity of Left parties to stop the BJP, RSS. This was supported by Karat and the party's Kerala unit, the sources said.

However, both the draft had accepted that BJP, RSS was the "biggest threat the country was facing at present" and that it needs to be defeated.

A senior CPI(M) leader from Bengal, on the condition of anonymity, said the committee's decision would go against the interests of the West Bengal unit which was having a tough time tackling the BJP, which is trying to become the main opposition party in the state, and the ruling TMC.

"The Kerala unit stood firm and large section of leaders from Tripura were in our favour. But, it was our Bengal unit from where some leaders were against the alliance with the Congress. This made the difference during the voting," the leader said.

Veteran CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan in an email to the party leadership had on Friday advocated for "forming a greater unity of the Left, secular and democratic forces including Congress".

With inputs from PTI