CPM justifies expulsion of RS MP Ritabrata Bandopadhyay for 'anti-party and anti-communist role'

New Delhi: The CPM Sunday justified the expulsion of its leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Bandopadhyay, saying instead of complying with the party discipline, he had resorted to publicly malign it. [caption id=“attachment_3947751” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] In a statement issued on Sunday, CPM politburo member and West Bengal state secretary Surya Kant Mishra said Bandopadhyay was expelled for “anti-party and anti-communist role”. “Even after repeated cautioning by the state committee, Bandhopadhyay failed to rectify himself and persistently continued to malign the image of the party by various means,” the statement said. The state secretariat of the party had decided to expel him from the party’s primary membership on 13 September, and the decision was approved by the politburo two days later. The statement said the West Bengal State Committee had earlier set up a 3-member enquiry commission to investigate the “serious allegations” against him, following which he was suspended from the primary membership of the Party for three months pending the enquiry. After being chargesheeted on the basis of findings of the enquiry commission, the state committee found his reply to it to be “totally unfounded” and it was decided to take penal measures against him, it said, adding that the state committee also informed the Central Committee about the matter. “Instead of complying with the party discipline, he resorted to malign the party publicly with the help of a section of a media”, the statement alleged, adding that after this, it decided to expel him from the primary membership of the party for “his anti-party and anti-communist role”.