Ahead of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), which begins here on Wednesday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday hoisted the party's flag and addressed party workers.
In his address, Vijayan lashed out at the Congress, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying that these parties were jointly opposing the CPI(M) and that a group of MPs are opposing the development work of the state in Parliament.
He referred to violence against the party's workers in West Bengal and Tripura, saying the party was gaining back strength and will come out stronger than before.
The 23rd CPI(M) Party Congress is scheduled to be held from April 6 -10 at E.K. Nayanar Academy here and on the agenda is the selection of the next general secretary to lead the party for the next three years. The conference will also deliberate on various prevailing national and international issues.
Vijayan, the Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M), hoisted the flag that arrived at reached AKG Nagar (Jawahar Stadium) in Kannur in a procession led by led by M Swaraj, Secretariat member, from Vayalar-Punnapara, which was the centre of the 1946 historic communist uprising against the alleged misrule of a Dewan of the King of Travancore. The flagpole march from Kayyur was led by P. K. Sreemathy, the party's Central Committee member.
Both the flag procession and the flagpole procession was accompanied with musical accompaniments and colourful umbrellas.
The chief minister who is also the chairperson of the organizing committee hoisted the red flag in the public conference venue furnished in memory of A. K. Gopalan, the commandant of the poor, as he is referred, at Jawahar Stadium Kannur.
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury will inaugurate today the Party Congress here, in which around 800 delegates, including party members and political observers from across the country are expected to attend.
Party General secretary Sitharam Yechury, Prakash Karat, S Ramachandran Pillai, Kotiyeri Balakrishnan, MA Baby, Manik Sarkar, Bimal Basu and Brinda Karat were among those who attended the flag hoisting ceremony on Tuesday.
( With inputs from ANI )
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