By IANS,
New Delhi : Leaders of the Left parties are still undecided on allying with cine star Chiranjeevi’s new party Praja Rajyam in Andhra Pradesh and are awaiting a decision of the Communist Party of India’s (CPI-M) state unit that is holding a crucial meeting Wednesday.
The party’s state unit is expected to submit the report to party general secretary Prakash Karat on the possibility of working out an alliance with the newly formed party. Both he and politburo member Sitaram Yechury are in Hyderabad to attend the state secretariat meeting.
“For some days the Left parties have been thinking of forming a broad third alternative which is both anti-Congress and anti-BJP, hoping to rope in both Chandrababu Naidu’s Telegu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam in the proposed alliance,” G. Devarajan, national secretary of the Forward Bloc, told IANS.
“We are not against an alliance with Chiranjeevi’s party as his family has a pro-left background. But we need to discuss the matter further,” Devarajan said.
However, Left leaders also realise that Naidu could prove a stumbling block in this grand alliance as he is vehemently opposed to the inclusion of Chiranjeevi’s party. The film star made a mega launch of his party in the temple town of Tirupati.
“We are still weighing our options and will arrive at a decision soon. We are not in a hurry in rushing for an alliance in Andhra Pradesh. The idea is to carry everyone in this plan,” said C.K. Chandrappan, national executive member of the Communist Party of India (CPI).
“We have got enough time as elections are only to be held next year. We have not started discussion on the matter.”
Another reason why the CPI-M is not in a tearing hurry to forge an alliance with Praja Rajyam is that it wants to first ascertain if Chiranjeevi is in talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
It is believed that BJP prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani rang up the cine star after the party’s grand launch.
However, Chiranjeevi’s spokesman P. Mitra said in a statement in Hyderabad that Advani’s telephone call was a personal one to wish Chiranjeevi all the best.
“It was purely a courtesy call and nothing else,” said Mitra.
During the launch of his party Chiranjeevi announced that his party would follow socialist ideals and came down heavily on the Special Economic Zones policy.