CPM stings: Lesson for Cong to take allies along

The CPI(M) today said the Congress should learn a lesson from the Assembly poll results and not repeat its mistake of frittering away the ‘‘secular votes’’. ‘‘The Congress should realise that its announcement to unilaterally go ahead on its own in Jharkhand triggered off the hostility that divided UPA allies in the state polls,’’ Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said. ‘‘The Congress should learn a lesson here and not repeat this mistake. The party should learn to carry (along) the coalition.”

Ever since that first move by the Congress to strike electoral partnerships on its own in Jharkhand, which put ally Laloo Prasad Yadav on the warpath, the CPI(M) has publicly criticised the Congress for alienating its partners. Left leaders had warned that by going it alone, the Congress would divide the secular votes and bring communal forces back into the reckoning. ‘‘This is exactly what happened,’’ says a senior party leader.

Yechury says the CPI(M) has no role to play in bringing together the warring partners — Congress, RJD and the surprise winner, LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan. ‘‘Our role is very small as we do not have much strength in these states. We do not see ourselves as mediators, it is up to the big players to sit and work it out. All we want is that a secular government is formed in the two states.

‘‘The Congress now has to undo the hostility it has created among UPA partners. It took a wrong direction in Jharkhand, it now has to sort it out.’’