July 1, 2006

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The   Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) deeply mourns the demise of its Central Committee member and veteran communist, Comrade Koratala Satyanarayana. He died this morning after battling against cancer for the last six months. He was 83 years old.

A freedom fighter, Com. Koratala Satyanarayana was one of the most experienced leaders of the Party in Andhra Pradesh who had worked with the first generation of communist leaders in the state. He was one of the key builders of the Party in Guntur district. He steadfastly upheld the revolutionary tenets of Marxism-Leninism and played an important role when both the revisionist and the Left adventurist deviations had deeply divided the communist movement in Andhra Pradesh.

Com. Satyanarayana was elected as the Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh State Committee of the Party in 1991. He served in this capacity till 1997. He was elected to the Central Committee in 1982. He was a member of the Polit Bureau between 2002 and 2005.

Koratala represented the Repalle constituency in the Andhra Pradesh assembly for two terms in 1962 and 1978. He made an immense contribution in building the agricultural workers union and the Kisan Sabha in Andhra Pradesh.

He was jailed for three years and spent four and a half years underground.

In his death, the Communist movement in Andhra Pradesh has lost a towering leader. The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) dips the red flag in memory of this communist leader.  The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) conveys its heartfelt condolences to his wife Susheela and two sons and a daughter.