AMN / NEW DELHI
Rajya Sabha MP D Raja was appointed as the General Secretary of CPI on Sunday. The veteran leader, who replaced S Sudhakar Reddy, said he wants all communist parties to come together and rework strategies.
Addressing a press conference, Mr Raja said the Left might have lost seats in the Lok Sabha election and might have been reduced to a smaller force in Parliament, but it does not mean that it has shrunk within the country or its ideological and political influence have shrunk.
Mr Raja was unanimously chosen as Sudhakar Reddy’s successor at a three-day meeting of the CPI National Council earlier this week.
The meeting of the national council also accepted that the Left defeat in this election is a very big setback. This is an unprecedented challenge to CPI.
” Our Party could get representation only from Tamil Nadu in understanding with DMK under the leadership of Shri M.K. Stalin. CPI (M) also got two seats from Tamil Nadu and one seat in Kerala. The entire Left is reduced to five seats in the present Parliament. This is the lowest ever representation of Left after independence. The Left cadre and ranks are disappointed and unhappy. Victory and defeat are normal in elections but we are shocked with loss of vote share in big way. Traditional left vote erosion is very high in West Bengal. That is alarming. It reduced from 25 per cent to seven per cent in Bengal. In Kerala UDF got 47 per cent, LDF 35 per cent which is a big gap. It never used to be more than two per cent difference earlier. We need to introspect deeply why our vote share in strong bases also is eroding in such big way. This is more so in West Bengal. This is a big challenge. We shall face it and overcome” the party said in a statement.