CPI to expand base in Hindi belt

New Delhi: The CPI, whose presence in Lok Sabha has been reduced to a lone MP, has decided to work towards expanding its electoral base in the country with a renewed focus on politically crucial Hindi belt.

The party will be holding a National Executive Meet on May 22-23 during which challenges before it will be identified, following which another meeting will be held in the first week of July to discuss strategies on regaining strength in the region.

"There was a time when we had seven MPs elected from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But rise of regional leaders at the time of implementing Mandal Commission report and that of communal forces eroded our base."

"Now, we are going to discuss what are the spots of bother, how to tackle those, and who are the people to target to see growth in party's presence in the region," CPI National Council Secretary Shameem Faizee told a news agency.

The highest number of Lok Sabha seats won by the party was 26 in 1971. In 2009, the party's presence was reduced to just six MPs. At present, it has two MPs -- one each in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Faizee said the party plans to focus on youths and people from backward class. In addition to this, the CPI mulls engaging in dialogue with "opinion-making" people from metros like Delhi and Chennai, used to support the Left party earlier.

"Our concentration will be on youth and students who are not coming to us. We also need to target opinion making population in the metros. We used to be very strong amongst them in Delhi and Chennai. We will need to focus on this segment of population," he said.

Faizee reiterated the party has asked its cadre from the Hindi belt and metros to re-connect with people in languages they understand. It will use social media to promote its activities, he said. "We are telling leaders at grassroot to re-connect with people. When we say re-connect, we mean to speak their language. We talk about international issues, economic policies, but the common man's immediate concerns are roads, drainage, etc. So, our men will need to launch result-oriented grassroot struggle in this direction," the leader said.

However, it is unlikely the Left party will join hands with the 'Janata Parivar', a conglomerate of six parties, ahead of the Bihar assembly polls scheduled later this year, he said.

He reasoned that going with Janata Parivar may mean contesting less number of seats. Parties in the Parivar also have "zig zag" polices, which will be unacceptable for the communist outfit, he said, referring to their support to NDA's Insurance Bill.

"Any alliance has to be on agreed policies and programme. Coming together without such policies and programmes will always put question on identity of the alliance," he said.

However, he hinted on the merger of the Left parties, saying, "most probably" the six Left parties will contest the polls jointly.