True, this is not the first time that the party’s central leadership has had to take action against errant members on account of factionalism or indiscipline. Tripura stalwart Nripen Chakraborty faced expulsion — but only after he ceased to be the chief minister and had been eased out of the Politburo. Similarly, one of the nine founding PB members, P Ramamurthy, was also dropped — but gently and away from the public eye.

Over the years, the scourge of factionalism and indiscipline has periodically surfaced in several state units and senior state leaders and central committee members have been suspended or expelled from time to time. Former Punjab unit secretary Mangat Ram Pasla, for instance, was expelled but only after being “dropped” from the CC. The state units of Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan and Karnataka among others too have been brought to heel by the central leadership in the past - with serving CC members dropped when factionalism proved intractable.

Apart from cases of indiscipline, the only time serving leaders face action in a communist party is when there are deep ideological differences at the top. The undivided CPI general secretary P C Joshi, for instance, was forced to step down from leadership at the party’s second congress in 1948 after his line was defeated. His successor B.T. Ranadive also suffered the same fate a few years later. And when ideological differences reached a breaking point, the party split in 1964. And then again in 1967, when those who came to be known as Naxalites left the then fledgling CPM.

... contd.