The post-poll violence across the state, especially in Khejuri where a number of CPM party offices were torched and ransacked, figured prominently during the first day of the two-day CPM state committee meeting here on Thursday. The day’s proceedings were marked by sharp exchanges over withdrawal of support to the UPA government’s first term, the formation of the Third Front and the state government’s land acquisition policy.

Even though the agenda for the two-day session was primarily an analysis of the poll debacle, the discussion turned towards the Khejuri episode in which five CPM ministers were prevented from entering the disturbed zone by the Trinamool Congress activists.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee came under an indirect attack from party members for running a weak state administration that, many felt, failed to deliver. The Khejuri violence was used by many to prove how the police administration had collapsed and there was no rule of law. A defeated MP form North 24-Parganas said: “The weakness of the Government and the administration had been taken as a weakness of our party.”

The CM, who also spoke during the day, admitted that the administration had signs of weakness and inefficiency.

Prakash Karat and Biman Bose would address the meeting on Friday, said party sources.

Even Sitaram Yechury reacted sharply to the Trinamool Congress’s aggression. “The Trinamool Congress has resorted to undemocratic ways to spread its influence. Thirty years ago, the people of West Bengal had rejected the Opposition party and they will reject them again,” Yechury told reporters.

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