Buddhadeb summoned for CPI-M Delhi meet, may not attend

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been asked to attend a two-day CPI-M meeting in New Delhi during the weekend after the Left Front's shocking debacle in civic polls, but he is unlikely to attend.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been asked to attend a two-day CPI-M meeting in New Delhi during the weekend after the Left Front's shocking debacle in civic polls, but he is unlikely to attend, says a senior party leader.

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Bhattacharya has cited "law and order problems" in his state to tell the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leadership that his presence is needed in the state, a CPI-M leader said.

But the CPI-M leadership is insistent. "We have informed him that he should attend the meeting as it is important," the source said. "Let us wait and see", he said when asked if Bhattacharya would come or not.

The leader admitted that the West Bengal situation was "very serious" and the politburo would discuss it.

"But a thorough discussion would be held only after the state committee's review of the election," the leader said. "The West Bengal unit has to review it properly."

In municipal elections held across West Bengal on Sunday, the Trinamool snatched the prestigious Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) from the Left and trounced the Marxists in most of the 80 other municipalities.

Coming ahead of next year's assembly polls in West Bengal, the results of the civic polls have been a shocker for the CPI-M.