Kolkata: CPM state committee member Pratik Ur Rahaman gave up his party membership because he was finding it difficult to “align with the views and strategies” of the district and state leadership, he said in a letter on Sunday. A former SFI state secretary, Rahaman had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against Trinamool’s Abhishek Banerjee, and lost.Rahman’s strong views have often put him at odds with the party leadership in the past. Recently, a day after CPM state secretary Md Salim met Janata Unnayan Party founder Humayun Kabir, Rahman wrote on Facebook: “There cannot be a communist party without ethics.”Following his resignation, CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said he had dialled Rahaman but “maybe he could not take the call”. “We will try to talk to him and understand what made him write that letter. He is young and beloved by us,” he said.“There are many young comrades in the party. If they have issues, the party can discuss them. If they have questions, the party can answer,” he added. Samik Lahiri, another CPM central committee member, told PTI that party seniors will speak to Rahaman.Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, who shared Rahaman’s letter on social media, said CPM frontliners were deserting the party after their differences with a section of “media-savvy leaders”. He added that Rahaman quit the party over reactions of a section of CPM seniors, including Md Salim.
