In an interview with Karan Thapar in the 'India Tonight' programme of CNBC-TV18, senior party Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the exercise of introspection is underway but whether that will lead to a leadership change will be decided by the party Central Committee (CC) which is meeting in June.
He also acknowledged that the withdrawal of Left support to UPA-I had a "collateral damage" as it created a strong opposition alliance in Bengal but insisted "we had no option".
Asked if someone should take responsibility for the recent poll performance which have left CPI(M) with lowest tally ever either in Parliament or assemblies, he said "it is a question of owning up responsibility for what went wrong and we are in the midst of that exercise...Owning of responsibility has to be collectively done by the leadership".
On if the same leadership under which the debacle took place can probe the causes or whether the Central Committee can bring in "new people", Yechury said, "First thing the Central Committee will do is to begin process of introspection of what went wrong with the same existing leadership.
