THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Having touched rock bottom nationally, both electorally and politically, the CPM is on a last-ditch attempt to win back its mass base. Literally shrunk to the bare minimum, the party is keen to expand its independent strength, as it gears up for its 24th Congress in Madurai from Wednesday.

Keen to emerge from the rut the largest Communist party in the country finds itself in, the CPM wants to convert the support it garners from mass and class agitations into electoral victories. “The party’s current perilous situation calls for the deepest introspection in its history. The political scenario is similar to 1972, when the Communist party found itself in deep trouble,” a senior leader said.

“Wriggling out of the present scenario is of utmost priority. In West Bengal, the party was in power for 35 years. Now it has come down to a dismal 5-6% of votes. It’s a similar situation in Tripura, too. In Andhra, we once had a 37% share of votes. But as of today, we find ourselves restricted to the tiniest electoral space. Heaving the party out of this self-destructive space is the first priority. Equal importance will be given to discussions on countering the RSS’ Hindutva campaign,” a senior leader opined.

The draft political resolution for the party Congress is highly self critical. “The LS election results have shown weaknesses in our political and ideological efforts to counter the BJP.