The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : CPI(M) for joining forces with CPI

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Monday, Feb 07, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

CPI(M) for joining forces with CPI

By Our Staff Reporter

NALGONDA, FEB. 6. In a statement with significant political undertones, the CPI(M) State secretary, B.V. Raghavulu, told delegates attending the CPI's 22nd State conference here today he hoped that in future the two parties would have a joint conference.

He was responding to a suggestion of communist unity made earlier by the CPI general secretary, A.B. Bardhan.

Coordination panel

"We have to ensure effective functioning of the CPI-CPI(M) coordination committee so that it evolves into a de facto unity committee," he said.

He also called for a common charter of demands of the two parties' mass organisations.

"We need continuous united action on a common charter of demands of our mass organisations rather than episodic united action as at present," he said.

Joint struggles

"We should unleash joint struggles on these and build a strong mass movement which would attract all democratic sections to the communist movement," he said and argued that effective unity between the two parties in Andhra Pradesh could turn out to be a prelude for national developments.

Telangana issue

Earlier, Mr. Bardhan's speech gave indications that these two communist parties were coming closer on the contentious issue of separate Telangana. While he spoke at length on the contribution of the united communist party towards uniting the Telugu-speaking people into one State, he made a no mention of the separate Telangana issue.

"We recall with pride the struggle led by the united CPI to unite the Telugus, who were divided into four States, into one State," he said and added, "this is our legacy."

It may be recalled that while the CPI(M) has been firmly opposed to the idea of separate Telangana, the CPI leadership had accepted that there was a ``genuine grievance" of people of Telangana regarding neglect of their region and was willing to concede a Second States' Reorganisation Commission to look into the demand for separate Telangana.

The only time Telangana came up for mention in Mr. Bardhan's speech was in reference to the communist-led armed struggle against the Nizam and for land redistribution.

This may indicate the closing of the gap in public positions on an important issue between the two communist parties.

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