CPI-M tells Buddhadev Bhattacharjee to continue as West Bengal CM

New Delhi, May 18 (ANI): The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has told West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee to continue in office, hours after he offered to resign owning moral responsibility for the party's electoral defeat in the state after 34 years of continuous rule.

West Bengal Industry and Commerce Minister Nirupam Sen and CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat reportedly told Bhattarcharjee that he should not think of resigning, as the party's politburo is in the process of assessing the reasons for the electoral defeat.

Tripura Chief Minister and senior CPI-M leader Manik Sarkar is reported to have said that there is no question of Karat or any of the CPI-M leadership resigning as of this moment.

These statements came as the politburo has completed a two-hour-long meeting in the national capital and is expected to resume deliberations in the afternoon.

CPI-M sources said that the meeting of the politburo will go on till late in the evening. They said there will not be a press conference.

It was stated that the party's state secretaries have been asked to give their respective reports and meet with the central leadership to formalize a national report on the reasons for the electoral loss. (ANI)