By IANS
Hyderabad : The Communist Party of India concluded its 20th national congress here Thursday taking a serious note of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s economic policies and its pro-US tilt in foreign policy.
The party did not take any decision on its future relations with the coalition government, but hinted that it would decide its future course of action in consultation with other left parties.
S. Sudhakar Reddy, who was elected deputy general secretary of the party, told newsmen that the party would wait for the outcome of the national congress of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), beginning Saturday at Coimbatore.
“We will take a collective decision after consultations with other left parties,” he said. He was asked whether the party would continue its support to Congress-led UPA government.
The CPI leader said the party congress reminded the UPA that the Left parties supported it to prevent communal parties from coming to power. He said the party took a serious note of the economic policies being adopted by the UPA government, its “tilt towards American imperialism”, and the general rise in prices.
The party underlined the need to build a third political alternative through common struggles based on a Left and democratic programme.
The meeting decided to take up militant movement against price rise April 17 and 18 and join hands with United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), an alliance of regional parties, for a joint struggle.
The final political resolution passed at the five-day meet was not made available to the media and Sudhakar Reddy said it was being drafted and would be released Friday.
Earlier, party general secretary A.B. Bardhan told a news conference that he would answer all questions at the meet-the-press programme Friday.
He confined himself to announcing the names of newly elected members of the new council, national executive and the secretariat.
Bardhan, who was re-elected general secretary for the fourth term, denied that he was assaulted by some pro-Telangana youth who had barged into the venue Wednesday night.
“The reports that I was assaulted, pushed or beaten up are all exaggerated,” he said.
He admitted that some people barged into the venue and were distributing leaflets. “I tried to prevent them and took away leaflets but nobody assaulted me,” he said.
Bardhan termed as ‘distorted’ reports of differences on the issue of separate Telangana. “Nothing so dramatic happened,” he remarked.
The CPI leader said 300 to 400 amendments to political and other resolutions were moved and one-third of them were adopted. “The section on Telangana need to be redrafted and reformulated in detail and it should not be in an abrupt manner in which it was done,” he said.
“The demand for carving out a separate state of Telangana has grown among the people of that region. Taking note of this growing demand, the CPI supports the formation of Telengana,” said the draft political resolution.