But the road ahead is long and winding. Besides the electoral rout in its citadel of West Bengal, the CPM has not been able to expand its base into the Hindi heartland — where it had some influence many decades ago-despite various efforts.

The party also feels many non-congress and non-bjp parties are not reliable as they strike alliance of convenience with the two national parties.

Slamming both the current UPA government and the previous NDA government Karat said strengthening the CPM would strengthen the Left movement. “There is nothing to choose between the two. The eight years of the UPA government have led to unprecedented corruption in the country. An effective Lokpal Bill is needed, but that alone won't be enough. It is only the CPI-M that has the moral authority to fight corruption....”

Also speaking on the occasion Left leader AB Bardhan said the coordination among the Left parties needs to be institutionalised and should go beyond the meetings of the party general secretaries.

Presenting the resolution on ideological issues in the closed door discussions, politburo member Sitaram Yechury spoke of the possibility of a “counter revolution” taking place in China if the country continued with the same economic policies.

The delegates, who spoke on the subject, raised many issues that they thought was plaguing the Chinese model of socialism. One of the members said the Chinese model was focused more on creating billionaires than addressing the rural-urban divide — the last 18 years seeing a 13-fold increase in the income gap.

The party is also not taking it lightly that the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) has dropped the concept of antiimperialism from its concept at a time when that remains one of the major planks of the CPM. Delegates insisted that the party should give more importance to the indigenous models of socialism, and address the issues of caste and religion in a more effective manner.

What the two outfits did exactly is unclear, but Henderson ended up facing only a modest fine.

EXPENSIVE CONNECTIONS

For his lobbying on behalf of Henderson during the 2006 currency investigation, Tian demanded about $5.5 million, according to a summary of the saga presented last month by Judge David Yam Yee-kwan. Henderson told the court that it was ready to pay for Tian’s help but judged his fees exorbitant and, challenging his assertions that there was a prior agreement on his fee, refused to pay that amount. The quarrel went to court in Hong Kong last year, and a verdict was issued last month. Tian’s investment firm lost the case and is appealing.

Henderson Land Development, the Hong Kong parent of the Beijing real estate developer, refused, through its attorneys, to comment on its use of outside consultants, or to reply to written questions, citing the ongoing legal proceedings.

Testifying this past fall on the 27th floor of Hong Kong’s High Court building, Tian displayed a demeanor that helps explain why many of China’s princelings are so unpopular with many ordinary Chinese.