When CPM had a ‘pact’ with Congress in 2004

The 22nd Party Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), approved an understanding with the Congress party ahead of the 2019 polls, but ruled out a political alliance. This is seen as a victory for CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who favours a broad consensus among Opposition parties against the Narendra Modi government.

HT looks back at how the CPI (M) supported the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2004, the last time it forged an understanding with the Congress in national politics. The companionship ended in disaster.

HYDERABAD:

SIGNIFICANCE

The divorce between the Congress and the Left saw the decline of the CPI(M). It has now been reduced to just 11 members in the Lok Sabha.

The new tactical line that allows an understanding with the Congress is the first major victory of Yechury as the general secretary of the party.

The party will not form any pre-poll alliance with the Congress, but if a 2004-like situation arises, it will be ready to support a coalition against the BJP.

Questions, however, remain on the strength of the CPI(M) after its defeat last month in the assembly polls in Tripura, which it ruled for 25 years.

The party is completely marginalised and is fast losing its footprint in West Bengal — its biggest bastion in 2004 — which it lost to Trinamool Congress in 2011 after 34 years of Communist rule.