Its local units left in tatters with cadres deserting the party in hordes after the rout in the Lok Sabha polls, the CPM has begun winding up its offices and relocating others from where it has been hit the hardest — Nandigram.

The party has shut down several of its zonal and local committees in Nandigram and Khejuri. Some local committee offices have been relocated to Haldia and Tamluk, for the party can admittedly find not enough cadres to run the show. A few other units have been downsized.

“The situation in Nandigram and Khejuri is bad. Many of our party leaders, secretaries and members of zonal and local committees cannot return to their homes. Many others are being forced to leave the party by Trinamool hoodlums. Therefore, we were forced to cut down the number of local and zonal committees,” said Lakshman Seth, former MP and CPM state committee member who is considered to be a strongman in East Midnapore.

“I will not call it a shutdown of party offices, but a necessary restructuring. When the situation improves, we will increase the number of committees again,” Seth added. The number of zonal committees in both trouble-torn places has been halved and a number of local committee offices have been shut down.

In Nandigram, the party had decided to merge two zonal committees — one each in block-I and block-II — into a single zonal organising committee, with its office at Reyapara. Similarly, the two from Khejuri will be merged into one.

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