Citu president AK Padmanabhan addresses the 15th All-India Citu conference on Saradhabali ground in Puri on Saturday.

Thousands of workers marched in a procession from Puri railway station to the Saradhabali ground to take part in the conference, which had around 2,500 delegates from across the country. The conference will conclude on November 30.

Padmanabhan launched an attack on US imperialism and expressed fears about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's equations with US. Making an apparent reference to the NDA government's demonetisation move, he said, there was an undeclared financial emergency in the country. He lashed out at the Centre for failing to check price rise and unemployment.

Citu general secretary Tapan Sen criticised the economic policies of the Modi government and said the country was being subjected to corporate loot.