CPM Ok With Forming Government With Congress

The CPM on Monday kept its option open to form a “secular government” with the Congress at the Centre to keep the BJP out of power. Its central committee that ended a 3-day session here on Sunday decided to support candidates of Congress and other like-minded parties in the Lok Sabha elections on the seats it is not contesting.

Its General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri told reporters that this does not clash with the party congress decision in April not to have any electoral understanding with the Congress as “our topmost priority is to remove the BJP from power.” He said the CPM and other left parties will go to any extent to keep the BJP at bay.

He said his party had given support to the Congress-led government in 1996 also to keep the BJP out of power. Yechuri said the central committee has also decided to contest on some seats in the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh while supporting candidates of the Congress and other like-minded party candidates on other seats.

In Telangana, he said the CPM is contesting under the banner of the Bahujan Left Front (BLF) to defeat both the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the BJP, which has an underhand dealing with the former. He said the CPM has already declared its first list of 12 candidates and another list will be out shortly while consultations are on with the BLF constituents on candidates for other seats.