Yechury advocates left consolidation, accommodating ties with Congress to defeat BJP
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Kollam: It is time for the consolidation of left forces in the country, said CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. In his speech as guest speaker at the inaugural session of the CPI's 23rd Party Congress here, he commented that in order to defeat the BJP, there can be alliance with secular democratic parties including the Congress. The chief aim is to defeat the BJP.
It may be recalled that in the recently concluded Party Congress of the CPM at Hyderabad, the party had discussed at length the issue of ties with Congress. The matter had become so contentious in the internal forums of the party, that it had to be finally patched up with deft changes in the wording of the resolution. In the approved version, the express ruling out of ties with Congress by name was deleted.
However, the party resolution had not gone so far as to explicitly advocate, or accommodate, co-operation with Congress, as implied in Yechury's speech, which can be read as running parallel to the CPI line. As such some eyebrows are likely to be raised by CPM's leadership at the General Secretary's pronouncement.
The draft political resolution under discussion at the 23rd Party Congress states that the main foe is the BJP and the Sangh parivar that leads it, and that to keep those forces away from power, there can be co-operation with political movements including the Congress.
CPI's state secretary Kanam Rajendran also had expressed the view that there was nothing wrong in co-operating with Congress. He added that in order to take on the RSS-BJP combine, a broad left unity has to be strengthened, and that there should be common platform aimed at left unity.