96 Bihar CPI netas to attend Kollam meet

PATNA: A 96-member CPI delegation left for Kollam in Kerala to participate in the party’s four-day 23rd national congress from April 26. The Bihar delegates led by CPI state secretary Satya Narayan Singh would lead the process to select 11 state delegates for the party’s national council. The general thinking is that the national council members from the state should not be selected through voting.
Until recently, the Left parties active in Bihar had been waiting to hear about the outcome of the CPM’s 22nd national congress at Hyderabad where Sitaram Yechury was elected the party’s general secretary.It was akin to yielding ground a bit to accommodate his line “against the hard line of Prakash Karat” towards the Congress.
“It is a welcome development in the CPM as it shows the clear break in its previous position with regard to the unity of the Left, secular and democratic forces,” Bihar CPI state secretariat member Ram Babu Kumar said on Monday before leaving for Kollam.
“Yet, on the issue of electoral alliance, the CPM appears to have inched forward towards the CPI position of having state to state political alliances or electoral arrangements with like-minded parties, but that is for the future,” Kumar added.
Curiously, the CPI(ML), which concluded its national congress at Mansa in Punjab last month, has already shown understanding with the other secular democratic parties, as its three MLAs in the state assembly had floor coordination with RJD and Congress on all important issues during the stormy budget session that concluded early this month.
At present, barring the CPI(ML), no other Left party has any MLA in the state assembly, but all the six Left parties active in Bihar maintained unity on April 14 and staged demonstration for ‘save Constitution, save country’ on the occasion of birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar.