THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM State unit is facing a peculiar situation wherein even SFI and DYFI activists refuse to get enrolled as party members. The election review report prepared by the Thiruvananthapuram district committee of the party, which was tabled at the CPM state committee meeting here on Sunday, drew the attention of the party leadership into the weakening cadre base of the party.
The report of the Thiruvananthapuram DC finds that weakened party machinery at local level was a major factor which resulted in the unprecedented setback suffered by the party in the recent local body polls.
The report is learnt to have quoted the example of party district committee member K C Vikraman who suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP candidate in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation election. The report argues that restructuring of the party machinery at grass-roots is the immediate need. Campaigns should be launched to attract youngsters to the party fold, it says.
The three-day session of the state committee, which began on Sunday, is discussing the local body election results in detail.
On the first day, review of the southern districts was completed. Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha district secretaries also presented reports.
While the Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta district committees also stressed the need for strengthening the party machinery, Kollam district committee’s report detailed about how the district party could withstand the UDF wave.
Sources said the Kollam DC has cited the pro-poor and pro-labourer measures initiated by the LDF Government as the factors which helped them win back the majority of local body institutions in the district. Being a district where traditional labourers form the majority of the voters, measures of the government like rice at Rs 2/kg and hike in welfare pensions helped the party.
Pathanamthitta DC has presented the resentment among Christian voters and the communal campaign unleashed by the UDF as reasons for the debacle.
Alappuzha DC report found fault with the traces of group war still visible at the grass-roots.
The state committee will discuss the reports from other districts on Monday.
