The Communist Party of India (Marxist) yesterday said it will be a part of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led front in the state for the Lok Sabha election next year as part of its efforts to consolidate the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party front in Tamil Nadu.
This was stated by CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury after a meeting with DMK president M K Stalin in Chennai.
“The defence of our country is the objective Stalin and I share. Alliances will always take place at the state level and then a national level alliance will take place. At the state level (in Tamil Nadu), we have decided that we will be in the DMK-led secular formation,” Yechury said with Stalin by his side after the meeting.
Last week, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu met Stalin in a bid to strategise on an anti-BJP alliance at the national level.
Yechury described his meeting with Stalin as fruitful and the basic agenda was that all patriotic secular forces in India should come together and India need to be saved from the “onslaught” of the BJP and the manner in which it was running the country.
The constitutional republic and the country’s unity and integrity had to be protected from the BJP, he said, adding that the livelihood of the people in the last four years and more had been continuously assaulted by the government.
In other political developments, the first list of candidates announced by the Congress in Telangana for next month’s assembly elections triggered discontent in the party, with those denied ticket threatening to enter the fray as rebels.
The main opposition party late on Monday announced 65 candidates for the December 7 elections to the 119-member assembly.
The Congress, which is heading a four-party opposition alliance, has agreed to leave 24 seats for its three allies.
Followers of some aspirants, whose names did not figure in the list, staged protests at the party office while some others decided to quit the party and contest as independent candidates.
Congress spokesman M Krishank has opposed the party’s decision to give ticket to his father-in-law and former central minister Sarve Satyanarayana from Secunderabad Cantonment constituency.
Krishank’s supporters staged a sit-in at Gandhi Bhavan, the party’s office.
Krishank announced that he would contest as an independent from the same constituency. He wondered how the party can field a man who was defeated thrice in the past.
Senior leader and former minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah, whose name did not figure in the first list, said he was surprised as he had been with the same party and contesting from the same constituency for the last 35 years. He was confident that the party will give a ticket to him from Jangaon.
He said there was no truth in reports that the Congress was planning to leave the seat for T J S leader M Kodandaram.
Another senior leader and former central minister Renuka Chowdary also expressed displeasure over the first list.
She said the balance among various castes was not maintained. She also found fault with Ponnala’s name missing from the list.
Chowdary said the selection of candidates could have an impact on the party’s prospects.
The Congress is also facing protest from its leaders who were unhappy over leaving some seats for allies.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury meets DMK president M K Stalin in Chennai yesterday
