parties(Eds: With fresh inputs)New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) A high-level meeting of the CPI(M) here today saw divergent views being expressed on whetherthe party should have any electoral understanding with secularforces including the Congress to take on the BJP in the 2019Lok Sabha polls.
The contentious issue of an electoral understanding withother secular parties was the focal point of discussion in thethree-day meeting of the CPI(M) central committee which beganhere today.
A top CPI(M) leader told PTI that the overwhelming viewin the meeting was that all non-Left secular parties should beunited to defeat the BJP.
"All non-Left secular forces have to be united to fightthe BJP without entering into any alliance or electoral frontwith them," the leader said.
According to party sources, many leaders, especiallythose from the West Bengal unit, were of the view that theparty should have an electoral understanding with secularforces, including the Congress, as it had done in the recentpresidential and vice-presidential polls.
However, some leaders opposed the views and said theybelieved that the party should focus its attack against theBJP, along with non-Congress secular parties.
The meet started with the placing of a report of theparty politburo on the draft political resolution, the sourcessaid. Yechury, however, presented a separate note on thematter, the sources said.
The draft political resolution will later be circulatedamong party cadres for their suggestions, before being placedin the next Party Congress of the CPI(M), slated for nextyear, for adoption.
About seven members of the central committee spoke on theissue on the first day of the meeting.
According to the sources, a leader from Kerala suggestedthat while framing the draft political resolution, thepolitical situation in West Bengal should be taken intoaccount.
Though the political line worked out by the CPI(M) in2015 had precluded having any understanding or electoralalliance with the Congress in the fight against the BJP, theparty had allowed state units to review specific politicalsituation before deciding their own tactical line inconsonance with the overall understanding.
As a result, the West Bengal state unit had entered intoa tactical alliance with the Congress for the 2016 Assemblyelection. The Left was relegated to the third position in thestate in the Assembly polls. PTI CSN SMN ARCSMN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.