CPIM Secretary General Sitaram Yechury during a press conference at Alimuddin, State head quarter on Tuesday, March 06, 2018. Express photo by Partha Paul.
The national conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) begins Wednesday in Hyderabad amid intensified internal strife and the party’s wipeout in Tripura Assembly elections. The five-day triennial conclave will towards the end decide on the CPM leadership — general secretary Sitaram Yechury is seeking a second term to head the party for three more years even as a strong faction led by former party chief Prakash Karat is rallying against him.
The meeting will also discuss and approve the party’s draft resolution besides charting its course of action ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The draft resolution released earlier this year, which is backed by Karat, rules out any electoral alliance with the Congress. Yechury, on the other hand, favoured putting up a united front against the BJP. His formulation was rejected by a 55-31 vote.
The draft says the “main task is to defeat the BJP and its allies by rallying all secular and democratic forces” but adds, “however, this has to be done without having an understanding or electoral alliance with the Congress party.” A Central Committee — the highest policymaking body of the party — will also be elected.
Hyderabad has been painted red, ahead of CPI’s crucial meet, with thousands of banners, flags and billboards erected, reported news agency PTI. This is the second time the triennial meet is being held in the city — the last was in 2002.
#Towards22ndPartyCongress
Kicks off in one hour! pic.twitter.com/knA3pfxVw3— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) April 18, 2018
The conference will be inaugurated by Yechury, who will deliver the inaugural address. More than 700 delegates will be in attendance. Leaders from other Left parties are also expected to attend, including CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, CPI(ML) general secretary Deepankar Bhattacharya, Forward Block leader GR Siva Sankaran, RSP secretary Manoj Bhattacharya and Ashish Bhattacharya of SUCI.
CPI(M) Politburo member B V Raghavulu, ahead of the meet, had said, “The meet will take up discussions on the political resolutions and political organisation report and at the end of the session, a new leadership will be elected by the party delegates.”
“After Narendra Modi (Prime Minister) assumed power and interventions by Sangh Parivar forces in the administration, serious developments have taken place in the political as well as social life of the country,” he alleged. “25 important resolutions covering all aspects of social and political life will be discussed and passed in the Congress,” Raghavulu added, reported PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)