Sitaram Yechury, a prominent voice of the Left in Parliament, was unanimously elected to the powerful post of general secretary of CPI-M, and immediately set out two major tasks - to work for unity of Left and democratic forces and fight against "communal" agenda of Hindutva forces. 62-year-old Yechury takes over from Prakash Karat, whose nine-year stint saw CPI-M's fortunes dwindle both in Lok Sabha from 44 in 2004 to nine in 2014 as also the West Bengal Assembly where the party was routed by Trinamool Congress in 2011, ending the Left party's 34-year rule in the state. Yechury was unanimously elected to the top post at the party's 21st national congress which concluded here today and becomes the fifth person to hold the post after P.Sunderayya, EMS Namboodripad, Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Karat. Yechury's name for the post was proposed by Karat and seconded by S Ramachandran Pillai, also a frontrunner for the top slot. The party also elected 91 members of its central committee and a 16-member politburo.

Addressing the CPI(M) meet in Visakhapatnam after his election, Yechury said one of the immediate tasks before the party was the fight against "communal agenda of the Hindutva forces" and Modi government's policies. Castigating the "communal agenda, neo-liberal policies and move towards dismantling democratic pillars" of the Modi government, he said the party has to effectively combat these three forces, lest it would become "Trishul" and pierce into the heart of the nation. "Our task is to strengthen unity of Left and democratic forces. The unmistakable conclusion of this congress is that the crisis in capitalism continues to deepen in the world. "There is no alternative except to strengthen the struggle for socialism. If there is any future for human civilisation, that future lies in socialism," he said. Yechury also spoke about merger of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India. "Merger is still on cards. But, the first issue is to stre