The Congress and the Left parties are working out an alliance for the upcoming Telangana elections. The CPI, CPI(M) and the Congress have come to a broader understanding of taking on the ruling BRS and the BJP together. This fresh development comes days after the BRS announced a list of 115 Assembly candidates for the total 119 seats, purging the communist parties from their side. The disappointed CPI and CPI(M) held internal meetings and later, considered the olive branch extended by the Congress party.
“In principle we (Congress and Left) have agreed to work together. But the offer should be honourable to us. We plan to finish the seat-sharing discussions in 1-2 meetings in the coming days,” said Telangana CPI secretary K. Sambasiva Rao.
In the last Assembly elections held in 2018, the CPI and the Congress were part of the grand alliance whereas the CPI(M) led another coalition, the Bahujan Left Front (BLF) with the BSP and other smaller parties in it. For the first time after the state bifurcation, the CPI and the CPI(M) will contest the Assembly elections together in the state.
The CPI(M) is treading cautiously and is banking on the CPI’s past association with Congress for a better treatment of their aspirations. For now, the CPI and the CPI (M) are almost ready with a list of five seats each where they are confident of performing well. These seats will be a crucial part of the negotiations with the Congress represented by the AICC leaders.
In the last by-election held in the state for Munugode Assembly constituency, BRS leaders credited and expressed gratitude to the the communist parties for their support after winning with a slender margin of around 10,000 votes over the BJP candidate. The Communist parties claimed to have a significant share of votes in the constituency and took pride in stopping the BJP from expanding in the state with this defeat. The political friendship, however, failed to blossom and the Left parties were left with bitterness after the list of BRS candidates was announced by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao. They accused the BRS of rekindling its friendship with the BJP.
“Our differences weren't about seat-sharing. We suspect that they are close to the BJP now. They told us to not have any alliance with the Congress and come out of INDIA. We said it is not possible. We told them to emulate the Kerala model where the Left and the Congress are on the opposite sides but at the Centre they are on one side. The BRS could have taken the same stand had they been serious about fighting the BJP,” said a senior CPM leader.
