Date:07/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/07/stories/2008100753990400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

TRS nod for CPI(M) proposal?

Special Correspondent

Party agrees to stay away from Congress and BJP, says Yechury

-Photo:Mohd. Yousuf

Left stance: CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury at a meeting in Hyderabad on Monday.

HYDERABAD: CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury has said that the TRS had agreed to a proposal mooted by his party to be part of a front, which could be an alternative to both the Congress and the BJP at the national and State levels.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the executive committee meeting of the State unit of the CPI(M) here on Monday, Mr. Yechury said the Left parties were trying to forge an alliance to keep the Congress as well as the fundamentalist forces led by the BJP away from power. They wanted the alliance to take shape on the same lines at the national and State levels. At the same time, the CPI and CPI(M) wanted to strengthen Left unity, he added.

TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao had agreed to the CPI(M) leadership proposal in New Delhi on Sunday that the Left said it was looking at a non-Congress and non-BJP front , Mr. Yechury added.

Asked if the CPI(M) had set aside its opposition to separate Telangana by moving closer to the TRS, Mr. Yechury said his party had taken a principled stand sticking to division of States on linguistic basis. In line with the stand, the CPI (M) opposed statehood to Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh. But, it could not stop formation of these States. The same would be the case with Telangana if it came to statehood for the region.

The senior CPI (M) leader also said his party was focussed on how to build a non-Congress and non-BJP alliance comprising the two Left parties, Telugu Desam and TRS in the State.

The State executive of the party was discussing the scenario and other political developments. He was here along with the CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat to listen to the discussions and take them up at the party’s Central committee meeting at Kolkata from October 12 to 14.

Mr. Yechury maintained that all parties, including the Praja Rajyam, led by Chiranjeevi, were in touch with the CPI (M).