KOLLAM: Close on the heels of the CPM’s 22nd party congress keeping doors open for a possible ‘understanding’ with the Congress against the RSS-BJP combine, the CPI’s 23rd party congress is contemplating to make it on record. An amendment moved to the political resolution at the party congress here says a possible alliance with the Congress should be specifically included.
Meanwhile, the CPI state unit has been witnessing major differences between leaders of the two prominent factions over making the Congress alliance on record.Highly placed sources said a amendment moved by AIYF leader T Santhosh Kumar wanted changes in the resolution so as to specifically include a possible understanding with the Congress.
“A sentence in the draft resolution speaks about a common secular democratic platform to take on the BJP and unseat the Modi government. There are demands that a mention that the Congress should be part of the vast political alliance should be made. A section of leaders feels that even the CPM has made necessary amendments in its political resolution. It should be viewed as CPI’s victory,” sources said.
While the official faction led by Kanam Rajendran is of the view that the resolution should not be vague about the alliance part, certain leaders from the K E Ismail faction have opposed the same. Speaking at the group discussions, they said a decision on an electoral alliance should be made depending on the political scenario. As per the prevailing political situation, a call on an electoral alliance should be made. While leaders such as V S Sunil Kumar and Lathadevi were of the view that more stress should be on strengthening Left unity, P Prasad pointed at bringing in clarity on including the Congress in the secular platform.
“Though the CPI has mentioned about a secular democratic platform at the end if we have to unseat the BJP, there should be an electoral victory. We should clearly mention about any political or electoral alliance in the resolution. The discussion on the same is still on,” said a state leader, adding that the commission discussion on Saturday will finalise the same.Meanwhile, the discussions saw severe criticism against the central leadership for being inactive and its failure to induce young blood.
Some delegates at the party congress felt a “leadership vacuum” at the party’s helm as it’s not being able to effectively intervene in day-to-day politics.“The CPI is not being able to make its presence felt in national politics. Despite several opportunities, we could not effectively cash in on the Kanhaiya Kumar agitation. The party also failed to take up the Dalit movement. Ideally, we should be leading the Dalit movement from the front, rather than being merely part of it. A generation gap in the top leadership points at the need for more youngsters to come to top,” said an AIYF leader.
Pannian likely to step down
There are strong indications that former state secretary Pannian Raveendran will step down from the party central secretariat. Senior leader and national executive member Binoy Viswam may replace him. Similarly, Kanhaiya Kumar could be made a member of the party national council or even national executive, said sources.
Delegates air differences with leadership
Kollam: Elders of the CPI’s central leadership came in for sharp criticism from the Kerala delegates during the general discussion held as part of the 23rd party congress. V S Sunil Kumar, Rajaji Mathew Thomas and Mahesh Kakkath led a scathing attack as they accused the central leadership for its lethargic attitude and explained how it was detrimental to the growth of the party. Former MLA Rajaji Mathew Thomas said the central committee looked like a ghost house while AIYF state secretary Mahesh Kakkath found out the sole job of the central committee was to deliver speeches without any follow up action. Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar disliked the current nature of central committee so much so he demanded its dissolution. Most criticism raised by the younger leaders have already been mentioned in the draft organisation report. The draft prepared by organisation department convener K Narayana said factionalism, lethargy, poor election strategy, increasing dropouts, etc. as the major problems affecting the party. The discussion also reve-aled differences of opinion in associating with the Congress.