CPI(M) state plenum to discuss ways to strengthen party

The CPI(M) West Bengal unit, which is facing a tough time in the backdrop of party's debacle in the 2016 Assembly polls, will assess the situation and find ways to strengthen the party in its two-day state plenum starting today.
"At the plenum organised last year in December, it was decided that the decisions taken in the Kolkata plenum will be implemented by the state committees. So the plenum of the state committee is now being organised today and tomorrow.
"The objective is to streamline and strengthen the party through the organisation plenum and overcome the challenges in Bengal," a senior CPI(M) Politburo member told PTI.

Senior party leaders such as party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat are slated to be present in the two-day plenum of the state unit.
CPI(M) state Secretary Surya Kanta Mishra today said countering the politics of terror and intimidation unleashed by the TMC is one of the biggest challenges the state is presently facing.
"The politics of terror and intimidation unleashed by the TMC, tacitly supported by the BJP, continues in West Bengal against the CPI(M) and the Left Front," Mishra said.

"Along with terror and intimidation they are using methods of coercion and appeasement through money power to wrest control of various local bodies that the Left Front had won prior to the Assembly elections. Ruling TMC has publicly declared that it shall 'capture' all local bodies by weeding out the opposition by the end of the year. The plenum will look into ways to counter it," Misha said.

According to CPI(M) sources, the party will look into ways to infuse more young blood in the organisation and remove "inactive" party workers.
"To counter such an unprecedented situation, we need to bring in more young blood in the party. More youths need to be brought into the party's organisational structure. Inactive members crippled due to age-old problems and those who do not have a good image among the masses should step aside and make way for new and fresh ones," Mishra added.