KOLLAM: General secretary Sudhakar Reddy hoisted the flag at the C K Chandrappan Nagar (Kadappakkada Sports Club) as the 23rd CPI Party Congress began here on Wednesday. Party leaders D Raja, Gurudas Dasgupta, Kanam Rajendran and Pannyan Raveendran were present. The flag for the five-day event was brought from Kayyoor and flagpole from the martyr’s square in Sooranadu. At the A B Bardhan Nagar, national secretary D Raja lit the torch brought from Vayalar.
A red flag brought from Puducherry, the venue of the last Congress, will be hoisted at A B Bardhan Nagar by control commission member C A Kurien at 11 am on Thursday. Reddy will then inaugurate the representative meeting in which state secretary Kanam will deliver the welcome address.
Sitaram Yechury (CPM), Debabratha Biswas (Forward Bloc), Kshiti Goswami (RSP), Provash Ghosh (SUCI), and Deepankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML) among other national leaders will take part in the inaugural meeting.
CPI delegates from West Bengal are upbeat about the representative’s meet to be held on Thursday. The draft political resolution to be discussed on April 26 would emphasise what they have been pitching for the past couple of years - forming an alliance with the Indian National Congress to fight communal forces. The adoption of such a stance by the CPM in its recently concluded party congress in Hyderabad amidst the opposition from party leaders from Kerala has increased the confidence of the CPI delegates from West Bengal.
“We are talking about this alliance with the CPM. We feel vindicated our stance has been accepted. We are glad we could further make the pitch in Kerala which was reluctant to buy the idea for long,” said Pravir Das, a member of the National Council. The leaders were quick to add the support was issue based and not a political alliance. “It is a tactical alliance at the national level we are looking to forge with the Congress. The equation with parties can change at the state level,” said state secretary of CPI in West Bengal Swapan Banerjee.
He said the alliance was in the national interest to protect the Constitutional rights and it was necessary to form a platform of pro-constitutional, secular and democratic parties. According to Banerjee, the Congress and the BJP had little difference when it comes to economic policy. “We need to remind the Congress they should change their economic policies to protect the Constitutional rights,” he said.