CPI(M) to forego posts gained with BJP support

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, OCT. 7. The CPI(M) has declared that it would forego posts in local bodies gained with the support of the BJP.

In a statement here today, the CPI(M) secretariat said it would not compromise on its principled opposition to the BJP and would not hesitate to give up posts, if any, it may have gained with BJP backing.

The CPI(M), the statement said, had contested the local body elections with a clear policy perspective. It had also stuck to the policy of not having any tie-up with parties such as the Congress(I) and the BJP and extremist organisations such as the PDP. The Congress(I), the UDF and the BJP, however, entered into opportunistic alliances in several places.

There have been reports that the BJP had voluntarily offered support to the LDF in a few places, apparently in a bid to mislead the people into believing that the CPI(M) is no different from the other parties. If the reports are true, the CPI(M) would give up such posts, the statement said.

The CPI(M) leadership hoped that those who believed in secularism and democracy would react strongly to the opportunistic alliances being forged by the Congress(I) and the BJP.

It is not immediately clear whether the CPI(M) proposes to give up positions it has gained through abstention by the BJP members. The party has got its nominee elected as Mayor in the Kochi Municipal Corporation thanks to the timely abstention by the two- member BJP contingent.

The party cannot, obviously, afford to give up such prestigious positions. It could, therefore, be surmised that only those posts which it had gained through voting in its favour by the BJP would be given up.

The other LDF constituents are yet to come out with a similar declaration. The LDF State committee, despite being aware of the possibility of the front having to depend on the BJP to gain power in many local bodies, had not given much thought to the issue. Now that the CPI(M) has made its position clear, at least a few of the other front constituents could be expected to follow suit.

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Section  : Southern States
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