YECHURY Re-elected CPI (M) GS,Vows To Fight Communalism With Congress
SITARAM Yechury has been re-elected General Secretary of the Communist party of India (Marxist) for a second term at the 22nd Congress of India’s the largest Left political held at Hyderabad. The party’s Congress is held once in three years for debating and accepting policies and programs to be followed by the leaders and the cadres till the next Congress. The 64-year-old alumni of the Jawaharlal Nehru University took over the party’s leadership three years ago at the Visakhapatnam Congress from his ideological opponent Prakash Karat, who is also a former student of the same University. His unanimous election to the party’s topmost position by the 95-Member Central committee in the presence of Karat loyalists is significant. But he has an arduous task ahead of him .It has lost power in West Bengal to TMC led by Mamata Banerjee and Tripura to the BJP .In both the states, the party has been ousted from power by an unprecedented wave of angst of the people against the Marxist. It is ruling only in India’s southernmost state Kerala. But there it also facing challenges from the erstwhile ruling party the Congress and emerging saffron party BJP.Comrade Yechery’s proposal for joining hands with the Congress to fight the BJP was turned down by his party in January. But the draft political resolution was tweaked in the Hyderabad Congress leaving the door open for an electoral understanding with the Congress to oust the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha Poll. Comrade Karat was against any association with the Congress and the rest of the party was split on the issue. The draft political resolution and the contrary view were presented at the party congress for debate and voting. In view of the tussle between Mr Yechury and Mr Karat over the political line, the party’s political organizational report said there was need to improve the level of cohesion among the politburo members at the centre. After official briefing Brinda Karat, party’s Politburo Member and wife of Prakash Karat, said “We have a culture which encourages discussions and debates but certainly that should not lead to any organisational fallout. The PB Members have been instructed to ensure that they do not indulge in loose talk.”Meanwhile, CPI(M) and Communist Party of India have joined the move with the Congress to initiate impeachment motion in the Rajya Sabha against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. It is stated in political circles that it was Yechury who had mooted the idea of moving such a motion against CJI.Former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Brinda Karat and BV Raghavulu were also among the hopefuls for the party’s topmost position.(pic courtesy NDTV)
