Buddhadeb skips CPM's central committee meet

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee steered clear of the Communist Party of India-Marxist's central committee meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The CPI-M claimed that Bhattacharjee is busy with the ongoing state assembly session in Kolkata. However, Bhattacharjee has been skipping party meetings after differences cropped up between him and other party leaders. Bhattacharjee was criticised by CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat's supporters for the Left Front's weak show in the civic polls West Bengal.

The crucial three-day meeting of the central committee is aimed at creating a blueprint for the extended session to be held in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh between August 7 and 10.

Other senior leaders from West Bengal, including state secretary Biman Bose and politburo member Nirupam Sen, attended the meeting in New Delhi. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar walked into the latter half of the meeting, while his Kerala counterpart VS Achuthanandan arrived earlier.

The central committee met at the CPI-M's Delhi office to draft its approach to the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal and Kerala. The 87-member central committee is set to debate a draft political resolution prepared by the politburo and review the party's performance in the last three years against the goals set by the CPI-M's 2008 Coimbatore congress.

Senior leaders criticised Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for washing her hands of the Sainthia train crash by floating conspiracy theories.

CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said, "The Trinamool Congress has been adopting such tactics to cover up their misdoings and absolve themselves by making such wild allegations. The delay in relief teams reaching the site caused the loss of several lives and we want to know why the delay occurred. Instead of investigating all this, she is floating conspiracy theories."

Central committee member Biman Bose also echoed similar sentiments and said Mamta kept changing her statements to suit her needs.

"She says one thing in the morning and an entirely different thing in the evening. I have no comments to offer to these wild conspiracy theories," he said.