CPI state meet in Kollam from February 7

KOLLAM: The 21st CPI state conference  would be held here from February 7 to 11. Announcing the schedule of the meet to the mediapersons here on Wednesday, reception committee chairman C Divakaran MLA, general convener K Prakash Babu and CPI district secretary R Ramachandran,  said that the conference would be a gala event, as the party conference was making a return to the district, where the party had a strong base, after a gap of 37 years. As a prelude to the event, several seminars, exhibitions, documentary screenings, literary and cultural competitions would be conducted from February 1. The conference, held as a forerunner to the 21st Party Congress to be held in Patna from March 27 to 31, would be attended by all prominent national leaders of the party. General Secretary A B Bardhan would inaugurate the three-day delegate meet on February 8, at the Kollam Town Hall.  The delegate meet would be attended by 527 delegates from various districts and 31 state committee members. A march of 20,000 red volunteers from the district would be held as part of the concluding ceremony of the meet on February 11.  A B Bardhan would inaugurate the concluding ceremony at the Cantonment Maidan. R Ramachandran said that the party had around 1.5 lakh members in the state and around 7 lakh in the country.