80-member committee to lead CPM’s Bengal poll charge
Times of India | 26 February 2025
Kolkata: An 80-member CPM Bengal committee, led by its re-elected secretary Md Salim, will lead the party in the 2026 Bengal assembly polls.
"We will start working for the 2026 assembly polls from tomorrow, Feb 26," Salim said at the four-day state conference, that was held from Feb 22-25 and ended in a rally at Dankuni Sporting Football Maidan on Tuesday.
Of the 80 members elected to the state committee, 14 are women. Six new people have made their way on to the new panel — Pijush Misra, Tirthankar Roy, Shukul Sikder, Kenij Rabiul Fatima (Aleya), Goutam Ghosh and Santanu De.
Former CPM West Midnapore secretary Sushanta Ghosh is among the prominent names not on the committee. Former CPM North 24 Parganas secretary Mrinal Chakraborty, who was dropped from the district committee after he lost in the organisational polls held at the CPM North 24 Parganas conference, was included on the panel for a second time.
CPM also retained party veteran Biman Bose on the new state committee, as well as some old warhorses like politburo member Surjyakanta Mishra, Rabin Deb, Amiya Patra and Jibesh Sarkar.
Minakshi Mukherjee emphasised the need to hit the streets against "anti-people policies" of the state and Centre, fight for the security of women and organise the toiling millions at the booth level, blocks and panchayat areas.
This is the biggest challenge for CPM delegates as the party doesn't control most panchayats, doesn't command a majority in civic bodies except Taherpur Municipality in Nadia, and has no representation in the Bengal assembly.
CPM politburo coordinator Prakash Karat underscored the need to organise those who did not get MGNREGA scheme wages. "People in rural areas were deprived of MGNREGA wages after funds were suspended in Bengal over the last three years. The rural poor were deprived of Rs 7,000 crore," Karat said.
The neta called upon Left forces to come together against the "corrupt" Trinamool govt and the "anti-people" BJP govt.
Pointing to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's recent visit to Bengal, Karat claimed that while BJP was dividing the Bengal population on the basis of religion, the Left was working to unite them.
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