Patna, March 31: Senior CPI leader S. Sudhakar Reddy today took over as the party’s general secretary, replacing A.B. Bardhan who held the post since 1997.
Reddy, who hails from Andhra Pradesh from where he was elected to the Lok Sabha twice, advocated for a secular democratic Left alliance at the national level. He, however, ruled out any understanding with the Janata Dal (United) as a component of the alliance as long as the latter was with the BJP.
Earlier during the last day of the CPI’s 21st party congress here, Bardhan passed on the baton to his successor in an emotional way, urging party cadres from across the country not to wait for any call but to hit the streets themselves against any anti-people issue.
“I admit that there are many things within the party which are wrong. We must aim towards betterment. There was a time when we were strong in Bihar. We want to regain our strength in the state. I may bid farewell today, but I will always be a communist. I urge all to get into the act and strengthen the party right from the grassroots level,” Bardhan said amid loud slogans of “lal salaam (Red salute)”.
Addressing the congress, Reddy said: “Comrade Bardhan will work with the party’s central secretariat and we will work under his guidance. We have always insisted on a non-BJP, non-Congress government and our party will stick to it. However, there’s a need to create a secular democratic Left alternative. It is a difficult task, but we will strive towards it. There are many parties that do not share the anti-people views of the Congress and the BJP. They should join us.”
On the possibility of having the JD(U) in such a front, the new CPI general secretary said: “The JD(U) is a secular party, but then it cannot be called democratic. At present, the JD(U) is compromising with communalism (by going along with the BJP). If the JD(U) leaves the BJP, it can be in the alternative. Besides, there are several democratic parties that are with the UPA. They can come out of the shadow of the Congress and join us to form the alternative.”
He, however, said the CPI’s biggest priority at present was to strengthen itself. “At present, the party has about 6.44 lakh members across the country and around 35,000 branches. Our aim is to increase the numbers by at least 5 to 10 per cent each year and to get more youths in the party. The priority will be to recruit members from the Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe and Dalit categories because our party fights for them. The party adapted a new programme today. A committee, headed by Bardhan, has been formed which will finalise the programme after getting feedback within a year,” Reddy added.
The national council also elected eight others as members of the party’s central secretariat. They are Bardhan, Gurudas Gupta, D. Raja, Amarjit Kaur, Atul Anjan, Shamim Faizi, Pannian Raveendran and Ramendra Kumar.
