UNLIKE other CPM leaders expelled from the party in the past, who expressed their anger in ideological terms, former Lok Sabha speaker, Mr Somnath Chatterjee has attacked the attitude of the party general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat: he calls him arrogant and intolerant.

In his book, “Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian” he chronicles the drama that led to his expulsion from the CPM, and assails Mr Karat for making the Left movement “irrelevant”. This is the most serious charge made against Mr Karat by any party leader. Mr Chatterjee has gone on to observe that the “disastrous” policies and “misguided” actions of the “current” leadership had resulted in the major debacle in the 2009 general elections. What is significant is the timing of Mr Chatterjee’s attack on Mr Karat. The extended central committee meeting will be held in Vijayawada from August 7 to 10. Mr Karat would be hard-placed to defend himself at the meet, with the leaders of the West Bengal unit already gunning for him for the poor performance of the party at the recent municipal elections. The indications are already there that the Bengal unit will not come to his rescue. It had refused to issue a rejoinder to Mr Chatterjee’s claim that the late Jyoti Basu had asked him not to resign as LS Speaker. One thing is absolutely clear: Mr Chatterjee would not have gone to this extent if he was not sure of support of the Bengal unit. This obviously manifests that anger is running high in the party against Mr Karat and there is little doubt that any attempt by Mr Karat to impose his will would prove to be disastrous for the party. First of all, he has to work hard to redeem his ‘revolutionary democratic’ image as party leader.