Post-Lok Sabha election results, the CPM is betraying signs of intense differences in its top leadership. On Saturday, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee skipped a meeting of the Politburo in Delhi. This was third of four post-election meetings of the party's highest policy-making body that Bhattacharjee chose not to attend. Even at a crucial two-day Central Committee meeting recently, the CM had marked a token presence on the first day and returned to Kolkata by evening.

The agenda of the Saturday's Politburo meeting in Delhi included among other things the emerging political situation in Bengal after the LS polls.

Sources said in the absence of the CM, party general secretary Prakash Karat had a closed-door meeting with state secretary Biman Bose. Nirupam Sen, another Politburo member who attended the meeting, was not present with Karat and Bose. The party forum is not the only thing that Bhattacharjee has been avoiding. Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata sought an appointment with the Chief Minister early this week without success. He had to make good with a meeting with Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen. According to sources, Bhattacharjee said: "What's the point. What do I tell Tata? A meeting would have only added to rumour mills and speculation."

The same evening, he skipped a scheduled meet with Ed Miliband, British Environment Minister, and Douglas Alexander of DFID. This when the British government has been financially supporting the Bengal government's programme of restructuring loss-making state PSUs. Sources close to the Chief Minister say of late, the passion with which he used to govern the state has been lacking. Early this week, Bose and Bhattacharjee jointly addressed a public rally in Kolkata to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Food Movement of 1959 where leaflets and speeches acknowledged the ‘peculiar’ situation arising after the Lok Sabha polls. “Everything is being stalled,” sources said.

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