By IANS
Coimbatore : This bustling town in Tamil Nadu has new visitors: Lenin, Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The roads leading to the SRN Auditorium where the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) begins its party congress Saturday are decked up with red flags and huge cut-outs of Indian and international Communist leaders.
Although smiling pictures of CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and senior leader Sitaram Yechury occupy most of the space, ailing comrades Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet are also there.
Chavez, known for his diatribe against US President George W. Bush, Castro, Lenin, Stalin and Karl Marx also adorn many hoardings on both sides of the roads here.
Interestingly, Che Guevara is missing.
A total of 722 delegates, mainly from West Bengal (175) and Kerala (170), as well as 70 observers from communist countries and fraternal delegations are also attending the congress.