Sitaram Yechury re-elected as CPI(M) general secretary for third term

The 23rd CPI(M) party congress ended on Sunday with a call for an alliance of all secular parties against the BJP and asked the Congress to clarify its stand on secularism.

The party congress re-elected Sitaram Yechury for the third term as the party general secretary, while Ram Chandra Dome from West Bengal, a leader from the Dalit community, was included in the politburo for the first time.

Former MP and Left Democratic Front convenor in Kerala A Vijayaraghavan and All India Kisan Sabha president Ashok Dhawale are the other new faces in the 17-member politburo. S Ramachandra Pillai, Biman Bose and Hannan Mollah were dropped from the politburo owing to age restrictions, while Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was given exemption. Seventeen new faces, including three women, were included in the 85 member central committee taking the total women representation to 15.

The key outcome widely expected from the party congress held at Kannur in Kerala was the approach towards the Congress, especially since CPI(M) leaders in Kerala had categorically stated that there would not be any alliance with the Congress, which is the key opposition party in Kerala. Moreover, the draft party political resolution had also stated that there cannot be a political alliance with the Congress.

However, addressing a public rally marking the end of the party congress, Yechury said that all secular parties should come together to fight against the communal agenda of BJP. He asked the Congress to clarify its stand on secularism.

The CPI(M) national leadership seems to be maintaining a dilly dallying stand on the matter, especially since the party is in alliance with the Congress in many states. Even the two of the three MPs of the CPI(M) are from Tamil Nadu where the party is in alliance with the Congress.

On queries by reporters during the party congress on the approach towards Congress, Yechury had been maintaining that alliances used to be generally formed only after elections and during the elections there would be only regional alliances.

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