Comrades set to close ranks

Express News Service
Last Updated : 14 Jun 2011 10:06:45 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Faced with an identity crisis after their big defeat in West Bengal and losing power in Kerala, both the CPI and the CPM are in a “hurry” for “reunification”. “We are in a hurry for reunification. But, it will take time as some processes should be completed before the reunification,” CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said here on Monday. He was speaking at a ‘Meet the Press’ organised by the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ).

CPI national secretary D Raja had echoed similar views in Vijayawada on Sunday and pointed out: “We have been making similar proposals from Harkishan Singh Surjeet’s time. It is up to the CPM to respond.” Asked about the proposal, Yechury conceded that their well-wishers were rooting for reunification, but added, “Unity will happen in two ways. The first, when both parties shake hands and go for a direct merger. But it is not sustainable.” The other way, according to him, was to start the merger process from the grassroots level. “The Left has chosen to go this way,” he revealed and further elaborating said, “We ask our Kisan, Youth and other mass organisations to work together during mass movements. This unity of mass organisations will reach the top. This process is on and we are also in a hurry for the reunification.” He felt that failure to complete the process would not lead to a meaningful unity.

The comrades parted ways way back in July 1964 when radical communists broke away from the CPI and called for a summit in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh. It was at that meeting that the CPM was born. Almost 47 years later, facing both an existential and ideological crises, the two parties are now singing the “reunification tune”. It is ironic that top leaders of both the parties are talking of reunification in the same State where they had once parted ways.

Karat Meets Naidu, Seeks TDP Support

Hyderabad: CPM general secretary Prakash Karat on Monday explained to TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu the series of attacks on CPM offices and party workers in West Bengal and sought the TDP’s support in opposing the violence. Karat called on Naidu at the latter’s residence and during their one-and-a-half hours meeting, Karat and Naidu also discussed the anti-graft movement and the UPA government’s response to the same. Later speaking to reporters, Karat said the CPM had decided to make Trinamool violence a national issue and that he had sought Naidu’s support.