Ahead of the 20th Party congress to be held in Kozhikode, later in 2012 April, the State conferences began with the CPIM Orissa State conference. The two-day State conference of the party started with a mass rally on Friday at Paralakhemundi of Gajapati district of south Odisha. The delegate session will continue till Saturday. Around 250 delegations of the party from different parts of the State are attending this conference.
The Mass rally was inaugurated by CPIM PB member Com. Sitharam Yechury. Rampant corruption in high places is adding to inflation and non-implementation of pro-poor measures in the country, said Sitaram Yechury. Com. Yechury cited example of the 2G scam and reluctance of Central government to introduce universal public distribution system. According to him with an expenditure of Rs. 92,000 crore government can provide 35 kilograms of rice to 80 per cent of the population of the country at Rs. 2-a-kg. But the government is taking plea of paucity of funds for not implementing such a scheme. But the extent of misappropriation in a single scam like 2G scam amounts to Rs. 1,76,000 crore , he added. According to him price rise has made day-to-day survival of people of lower economic strata extreme difficult while government is silent about it. In his speech in Telugu he called upon the common mass to get united and stand up for their genuine rights.
This meeting was also addressed by leader of opposition of West Bengal Assembly Suryakant Mishra, Odisha State secretary of the party Janardan Pati, State secretariat members Ali Kishore Patnaik, Jagananth Mishra, district secretary of Srikakulam C.Tejeswar Rao. This meeting was presided by Gajapati district secretary of the party L.Ramgopal Rao.
Com. Janardhan Pati said situation was no different in Odisha where government is silent towards drought and flood-hit farmers. According to him there was need for a political alternative in Odisha as the major political parties including the ruling BJD, the Congress and the BJP were faces of same exploitive capitalistic intentions having no thought for the poor. He said CPI (M) was trying to build such a political alternative in Odisha.Later in the Delegate session, Com Janardhan Pati placed the Political Organisation report and the same will be discussed by the delegates in the session. During this conference discussion would be held regarding future activities of the party in Odisha and preparations for coming panchayat polls next year.
