By IANS,
Hyderabad : Differences have cropped up between the Left parties in Andhra Pradesh following the decision of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) to back the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the next month’s by-elections in the state.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) has asked its ally to reconsider the decision.
The CPI-M politburo, which met in Kolkata Tuesday, decided to support the TDP in constituencies where the Left parties are not contesting.
CPI state secretary Narayana told reporters that his party did not agree with the CPI-M and hoped that it would reconsider its decision. He announced that the CPI would back CPI-M in the two assembly constituencieswhere it is contesting but would remain neutral in other constituencies. “We will maintain equi-distance with both the ruling Congress and the TDP,” he said.
The CPI has decided to field candidates in four assembly constituencies while the CPI-M has already announced candidates for two assembly seats.
By-elections to four Lok Sabha constituencies and 18 assembly constituencies are scheduled to be held May 29. The by-polls were necessitated by the resignations of four MPs and 16 state legislators belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) over the issue of separate statehood to the Telangana region.
Two assembly seats fell vacant following the deaths of two sitting legislators of the Congress and the TDP.
Both CPI and CPI-M had fought 2004 elections in alliance with the Congress. They bagged six and nine seats respectively in the 294-member assembly. During the last four years, the CPI-M grew closer to its former ally TDP after the latter severed ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The move by the CPI-M, which is backing the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi, is being seen as an attempt to build a third alternative to both the Congress and the BJP.
Meanwhile, the Lok Satta party, founded by former bureaucrat Jaipraksh Narayan, announced it would field candidates in four assembly constituencies, including three in the state capital.
Narayan, an officer of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), had quit his job to launch a movement for democratic reforms a decade ago. The movement converted itself into political party last year.