Bengal CM skips CPI-M politburo meeting

Top Bengal leaders Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Nirupam Sen did not attend the Communist Party of India Politburo meeting held in New Delhi on Saturday as the party initiated a preliminary discussion on the recent civic body poll debacle in the state.

The two-day meeting, which began on Saturday morning, was attended by General Secretary Prakash Karat, M K Pandhe, Manik Sarkar, Pinarayi Vijayan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The main agenda of the meeting is to discuss the preparations for the extended central committee meeting to be held in Vijayawada in August.

"We will be discussing the preparations for the extended CC meeting," Pandhe told reporters before the meeting. He also said the meeting will have a preliminary discussion on the Bengal civic poll results.

"The state committee has not yet discussed the matter. We will have a detailed discussion on it later. We will have a preliminary discussion here," he said.

Bhattacharya and state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen will not attend the meeting which will discuss the poll debacle.

Bhattacharya has cited post-poll violence in the state as the reason for his inability to attend the meeting, Pandhe said. This is the second time Bhattacharya is skipping a politburo meeting.

Earlier, he had skipped a politburo meeting after the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, where the Left suffered a huge blow in the state.

Pandhe said that Sen had informed the politburo that he would not be available for this meeting as he had some family functions to attend.