Congress' 'treatment' keeps CPM, CPI apart in Telangana polls

Differences on how to "treat" the Congress in electoral politics has once again kept the two Left parties -- the CPI(M) and CPI -- apart in the December 7 Assembly polls in Telangana.

The CPI is sailing with the Congress-led alliance, which also comprises the Telugu Desam Party, headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and the Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS).

The CPI(M) is leading the Bahujan Left Front (BLF), comprising 28 social groups and political parties.

The CPI(M) Telangana unit Secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram told PTI Wednesday that the BLF is mulling to field its candidates in all the 119 assembly segments. It has already announced 70 nominees.

Veerabhadram, a former Lok Sabha member, termed CPI's move to have an electoral pact with the Congress as "wrong".

"We (CPI-M) have allied with the Congress and TDP for 30 years. Our experience was very bad. Our national party has already decided not to ally with the Congress at any cost", he said.

Veerabhadram said CPI-M's main target was to defeat the BJP, for which it wanted to mobilise "all secular votes. But in the name of that, we don't want to align with the Congress electorally".

According to him, since the formation of Telangana in 2014, these issues were discussed in the Left Coordination committee.

But "CPI's argument is that the TRS (the ruling party in Telangana) is very dangerous, and to defeat TRS, they are aligning with the Congress. We (CPI-M and CPI) differed".

He said the two parties basically differed on how to "treat" the Congress in electoral politics.

CPI National General Secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said the CPI(M) formed a front which his party did not agree to.

"Together with other parties, we (CPI) wanted to defeat BJP and TRS. But the Left alone cannot defeat. We feel that's the number one task in the present situation in the politics of the state (to defeat the BJP and TRS)", Reddy told PTI.

"They (CPI-M) are not ready to agree. So we separated from them", he said.

On the CPI(M) request to the CPI to review its decision to align with the Congress, Reddy said there no question of going back now.

In the 2014 Telangana elections, the Congress had an alliance with the CPI, while the CPI-M contested separately, fielding 39 candidates and supporting the TRS in the remaining constituencies.

Veerabhadram accused the TRS regime of being "autocratic" and said its tenure was marked by "failure" to honour its electoral promises, while "people's aspirations were brutally suppressed".

"TRS has to go. But in the name of that, welcoming the Congress is not good for Telangana", he said, pitching for "alternative policies and alternative developmental model".