THE 26th conference of the Andhra Pradesh committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held from January 27-29 at Tadepalli in Guntur district in an enthusiastic atmosphere. The conference venue was named after departed leaders Comrades Jakka Venkaiah, T Narasimhaiah, Sunnam Rajaiah, Reddy Sriramamurty and T Shadrek. B R Tulasirao, senior leader of the Party hoisted the red flag marking the beginning. Tributes were paid at the Martyrs’ column.

INAUGURAL SESSION
P Madhu, Party state secretary presided over the inaugural session. Chairman of the reception committee V Krishnaiah welcomed the delegates and observers in his address.

Inaugurating the conference, Party general secretary Sitaram Yechury stated that defeating the Modi government at centre is the main objective in the days to come. The BJP being at the helm of affairs was implementing the RSS agenda of Hindutva rashtra. They are undermining the constitution and paving the way for the replacement of the secular democratic republic with fascistic Hindutva rashtra. They are destroying the foundations of the Indian constitution and destroying the characteristics of the secular democratic Indian republic. That is something that can’t be permitted. Party cadres need to strengthen the people's agitations against the central government and its policies, he said. Sitaram explained about the developments in Chile and other Latin American countries and about the emergence of China as a strong force etc. He hailed the victorious peasant movement that continued for a year. His presentation instilled confidence among the gathering that the united struggles of suffering people will culminate in success.

T Veerabhadram, CPI(M) Telangana state secretary said that though the state was bifurcated into two, Telugu people should remain united in fighting against the ruling classes by taking up people’s issues. K Ramakrishna, CPI state secretary expressed solidarity and hoped for unification of communist parties and forces.

The conference unanimously adopted a resolution urging people to gear up for a united struggle to achieve special category status for Andhra Pradesh and demand the implementation of assurances made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. The conference demanded that the state government continue Amaravati as capital and establish the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Kurnool. Party Central Committee member V Srinivasa Rao, moving the resolution said it was time to fight the BJP which had betrayed the people of the state on several counts. The central government has to release funds for the Polavaram project, Visakhapatnam railway zone, steel factory, Ramayapatnam port, capital city, and development of Rayalaseema and north coastal AP backward regions and central universities.

“The ruling YSR Congress Party is trying to create an impression that the Navaratna (welfare) schemes are a one-stop solution to all problems. No steps are being taken to control the exorbitant prices of essential commodities,” the resolution lamented. “On the other hand, the BJP is busy trying to divide people on communal lines. While lashing out at the regional political outfits for their opportunistic, short-sighted approaches, the resolution called upon them to unite and fight the betrayal of the BJP.

DELEGATE SESSION
The delegate session started in the afternoon. The presidium comprised M A Gafoor, D Ramadevi, V Venkateswarlu, K Lokanadham, Kunja Sitaramaiah. Party state secretariat acted as the steering committee. Resolutions committee, credentials committee and minutes committee were unanimously elected. Condolence resolution was moved by state secretariat member Y Venkateswara Rao and the conference observed two minute silence.   

P Madhu, state secretary presented the political organisational report of the state committee. The Party led many struggles right from demanding special category status for the state down to the local issues at village level and mobilised people, he said. He narrated the experiences of these four years since the last conference at Bhimavaram in 2018. 37 delegates representing 23 districts and 36 delegates representing various mass fronts participated in the discussion on the report for almost one and half days and made valuable contributions to the debate, reflecting healthy inner-party discussions. Some suggestions and amendments were proposed. Madhu in his reply lauded the free and fair discussion and clarified on some issues. After the reply, the conference adopted the political organisational report. The conference unanimously adopted resolutions on ‘Visakha steel plant’, ‘Amaravati as state capital, High court at Kurnool’, and on various issues.

VIGILANT ABOUT BJP-RSS
Party Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat congratulated the delegates for the free and frank discussion that was critical and self critical. He complemented the Party units at all levels for the outstanding services rendered in the pandemic period. He exhorted the delegates to be vigilant about the BJP-RSS forces working systematically to penetrate the masses. He said that Hindutva is the main danger at the all India level and also in this state. Karat dwelt upon the decisions of Kolkata plenum on mass line and building the Party strong.

443 delegates and observers attended the conference out of the 454 who were elected. Out of them, 77 were women, ie, 17 per cent. 75 were below 40 years of age, while 152 were between  41-50 and 140 were aged between 51-60. Oldest delegates aged 81 years were Paturu Ramaiah (special invitee to the Party Central Committee) and Y Kesava Rao and the youngest delegates aged 23 years were Abdullah and Venkateswara Rao. The class origins of the delegates were as follows: working class-66; agricultural workers-79 and poor peasantry-59. So, about 46 per cent were from basic classes. The social background of the delegates: SCs-88; STs-29 and OBCs-158. Regarding Party life, 3 joined the Party before 1960, 14 joined between 1961-1975, while 134 joined between 1976 and 1990. Hence, almost two thirds of the delegates and observers joined the Party during the period of neo liberal policies. 44 (10 per cent) comrades had under-ground life and 211 (50 per cent) had jail life.   

NEW LEADERSHIP
The conference elected new state committee with 50 members, 8 invitees and 5 special invitees. The new committee elected V Srinivasa Rao as the secretary and a secretariat with 13 members. Two comrades were elected as invitees to the state secretariat. The conference elected a five member state control commission and in turn, they elected Jala Anjaiah as its chairman. The conference unanimously elected 23 delegates to the 23rd Party Congress to be held at Kannur. The conference thanked the comrades who were relieved from the state committee.

EXPAND MASS MOVEMENT
B V Raghavulu, Party Polit Bureau member in his concluding remarks stressed the importance of studying the situation concretely in order to apply Marxism accordingly. He reminded about the CC documents on agrarian situation, conditions of working class and middle class etc in the background of neoliberal policies and appealed the delegates to study and take up appropriate activity. Multifarious activities in residential areas have to be launched and expanded, he said. Militant and sustained struggles on mass issues need to be taken up extensively and the Party organization needs to be consolidated, Raghavulu said.    

The 26th conference reaffirmed its resolve to continue the march amidst adverse situation and break the bi-polar politics so that the unity of Left and democratic forces is strengthened.