Karat re-elected CPI(M) General Secretary for third term

Kozhikode (Ker), Apr 9 (PTI): Prakash Karat on Monday re-elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for a third term at 20th Congress, which gave a call to strengthen the party and work towards building a Left and democratic alternative in the country. This would be the last term for the 64-year-old Karat as the Congress has amended its constitution to limit the tenure of party secretaries to three terms. Karat was elected as General Secretary in 2005 at the New Delhi Congress and again at Coimbatore for the second term. The Congress, which was held in the backdrop of the severe drubbing that the CPI(M) received in the assembly polls of West Bengal and Kerala, also named an 87 member central committee, including 15 politburo members. Kerala Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, removed from the politburo in 2009 for breach of party discipline, did not get back to the politburo, while former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was retained despite his absence at the Congress due to health problems. West Bengal Opposition Leader Suryakanta Mishra, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) president A K Padmanabhan and former Kerala minister M A Baby are newcomers in the politburo. The central committee has 13 newcomers, including two women -- Rekha Goswami from West Bengal and K K Shailaja from Kerala. There are two permanent invitees and four special invitees to the central committee. The Congress, which concluded here on Monday, also elected a five-member central control commission with Benoy Konar as chairman. Speaking at the concluding session, Karat said the six-day meet had undertaken important tasks and set out the agenda for working out the political line and direction to the party for the coming period. It also adopted a new ideological resolution to equip CPI(M) to face challenges thrown up by 'imperialist globalisation'. He gave the call to strengthen the party and unity of the Left to go towards the building of a Left and democratic alternative in the country and step up struggles against 'neo-liberal' policies followed by the Centre and continue the fight against communalism of all hues. Karat said the 20th Congress pledged its total support and solidarity to the fighting comrades in West Bengal, who are resisting attacks on democracy by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress government. Thanking the delegates for their suggestions during the deliberations, Karat said, "This makes us conscious of the major responsibility to take up political, ideological and organisational decisions." Politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai, the presidium committee chairman, said that besides the political and ideological resolutions of the party, the Congress adopted 21 resolutions on various issues.