Corruption in CPM led to poll loss: Biman

Nandigram, June 2: In an unusually candid admission, the CPI(M) blamed corruption and dishonesty among its leaders at the village level for the party's poor show in May panchayat elections across the state.

"Not everybody in the CPI(M)-controlled zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and gram panchayats is honest. We have corruption in our functioning. Even though they are few in number, we have to find out how this happened," CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose told a party meeting at Sutahata in East Midnapore district on Sunday. Asserting that Communists do not work for personal gain or to accumulate riches and property, Mr Bose, who is also the Left Front chairman, said many partymen and their family members had done just that which had not gone down well with the people. Accusing the leaders of party-led village level bodies of arrogance, he said they distributed funds given by the state government for the people as if they were distributing their ancestral wealth. -PTI