Left more important than ADMK for SP

With political parties getting into election mode, regional parties have started making the right noises, indicating the beginning of political alignments and realignments. At a time when the BJP is trying to forge an alliance with the AIADMK, which is an important constituent of the UNPA, another major UNPA constituent, the Samajwadi Party (SP), on Tuesday sought to remind the AIADMK that its ties with Left parties, particularly CPI(M), are much older than its ties with UNPA constituents.

SP dismissed suggestions from the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK to sever links with Left parties, which oppose AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. “I think that our traditional relationship with Left is irking the AIADMK. But our relationship with the Left is much older than our relationship with AIADMK. The relationship with Left parties, particularly CPI(M), is a long-standing one,” SP General Secretary Amar Singh said on Tuesday.

As an example, Singh highlighted the role played by the CPI(M) in averting the imposition of President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh when SP chief Mulayam Singh was Chief Minister. With eyes firmly on the next elections, Singh also said no future non-Congress and non-BJP front in the country will be possible without the support of the Left parties.

Singh’s statements comes in response to the remarks by the leader of the AIADMK party in the Rajya Sabha, V Maitreyan, who took exception to SP participating in rallies organised by Left parties.