KOCHI: Anathalava ttam Anandan, the senior-most CPM state secretariat member, will hoist the party’s red flag at the specially- prepared Marine Drive ground here on Tuesday morning, to mark the beginning of what is billed as one of the most-important state conferences of the Communist Party in Kerala.
The flag hoisting by Anathalavattam, 85, represents a change as this ceremonial opening was done by V S Achuthanandan, the veteran CPM leader, in the last three party conferences -- 2012, 2015, and 2018. The four-day CPM state conference, which is held in Kochi after a gap of 37 years, will see politburo members Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, S Ramachandran Pillai, and G Ramakrishna attending all delegate sessions.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury will deliver the inaugural address at 10.30 am while state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan will present the party working report in the afternoon. The most important event of the day will be when politburo member and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan present the vision document for a ‘New Kerala’ in the evening.
While the second day of the conference will be fully devoted to discussing the party working report, the third day will exclusively debate the vision document that outlines the roadmap for Kerala’s development in the next 25 years. A similar vision document was earlier presented in the 1956 Thrissur state conference of undivided Communist Party of India by E M S Namboothiripad.
The state conference, which is held ahead of CPM’s 23rd party congress in Kannur in April this year, is held adhering to Covid protocols, without compromising on the pomp and splendour, as it is held in the backdrop of the historical mandate for the CPM-led LD F in the assembly elections last May. Due to the Covid protocol, only 450 people including delegates and observers will attend the conference. There would not be any flag and lamp marches, and the concluding rally, which usually mark the CPM’s state conferences.