The CPM politburo on Sunday approved the Bengal unit’s request for equidistance from the Trinamul Congress and the BJP in the state.

The CPM is a constituent of the INDIA bloc, which has also the Trinamul Congress helmed by Mamata Banerjee.

The politburo, which met in Delhi over the weekend, also decided against sending its representatives not only to the INDIA coordination committee but also to any of the alliance’s structural organisations at the moment. One seat in the 14-member body, which includes Trinamul national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, was left vacant for the CPM.

A CPM central committee member said the Kerala unit had backed the stand of the Bengal unit. “We want those responsible for corruption in Bengal to be punished,” said the member.

According to the CPM’s Bengal unit, the buck of graft stops with Mamata and Abhishek.