CPM lines up hill Purge for cadres

Asok Bhattacharya in Siliguri on Thursday. (Passang Yolmo)

BIRESWAR BANERJEE, TT, Jan 11, 2018 Siliguri: Darjeeling district CPM leaders on Thursday said that they have started trimming their members' list and will not renew membership of party workers who are "ineffective" and found to be non-performers.

"We have not renewed membership of around 10 per cent workers of our party the last year. This is because we do not want to move ahead with non-performers. This practice will continue even this year," said Jibesh Sarkar, secretary, Darjeeling district CPM.

As of now, there are 5,000-odd party members in the district. The announcement comes just ahead of the party's district conference. It would be held here on January 14 and 15.

Siliguri, where the Left are in power at the civic body and also in the rural body (Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad), this exercise within CPM is significant, said observers.

"It seems that the party leaders want to ensure that they do not have a single member who is not working effectively to regain the support base," said an observer.

During past few years, insiders said, the number of members has come down in the youth and students' wing. "However, number of members in the workers' and farmers' fronts has increased," said a source.