Left starts looking for 145;secular146; alliance

The party8217;s national leadership on Sunday began taking stock of the national political scenario since it is of the opinion that the Manmohan Singh government might advance the next parliamentary elections.

8220;Talks are on with secular, non-Congress and non-BJP parties. Such matters were discussed in the meeting on Sunday,8221; said Sitaram Yechury, CPM politburo and central committee member.

The first day of the three-day session of the party8217;s central committee meeting was devoted to assess the organisational strength of the Marxists in the light of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. According to senior party leaders, since the CPM and the Left parties have already withdrawn support to the Congress-led UPA government in Delhi, the CPM will have to evolve a new electoral strategy in which they will have to keep an equal distance from both the Congress and the BJP.

8220;There is no doubt that the four Left parties will together contest the coming parliamentary elections. But their organisational strength is confined only in states like West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala. Naturally, the CPM and the Left parties will have to find some new friends, except the Congress and the BJP, to increase their influence in the national politics by winning more seats as compared to the 2004 Lok Sabha polls,8221; said a senior party leader.

The Left parties had a control over Congress-led UPA government until they withdrew support in protest against the Centre8217;s move to sign the nuclear deal with the US. The Left parties had managed to win 60-odd MPs in the Lok Sabha during the 2004 polls, which they had never won in the past. And with these 60 MPs, the CPM and other Left parties had a total control over the UPA government since they had supported the coalition from outside.

The central committee8217;s current session in Kolkata tried to assess whether the party would be able to retain all these 60 seats and whether they would be able to continue to hold their control over the new government in Delhi.

Party sources said the CPM top brass also feels that no single political party like the Congress and BJP would be able to achieve absolute majority in the coming parliamentary polls and ultimately another coalition government at the Centre is going to emerge. If such a situation develops, the CPM might get another opportunity to keep the national politics under its grip by dominating the coalition government.

Naturally, CPM8217;s expectations from the three Marxist-ruled states of Tripura, Kerala and West Bengal will increase this time to retain its hold on national politics. In West Bengal, the CPM and the Left parties together had won 35 of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats. In Tripura, the CPM won all the three Lok Sabha seats in 2004 polls. Obviously, the CPM will work hard to increase its seats from these three states.

The committee issued a statement on Sunday condemning the killings of six members of a minority family, including three children and a woman, at Bhaisha town of Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh. The central committee also demanded the Andhra Pradesh government take immediate steps for the protection of minorities and to provide adequate compensation to those affected by the communal violence.

CPM sources also said the West Bengal leadership of the party will give the central committee a detail report on Singur and explain before the party top brass why the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government did not take stern action against the Trinamool Congress8217;s indefinite agitation at the Nano factory site which compelled Ratan Tata to shelve his project in Singur.

8216;President8217;s rule is not a solution for Orissa8217; CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said that imposition of Article 355 or 356 in Orissa is not the solution to the communal violence.

8220;We continuously oppose the misuse of Articles 355 and 356. We want them to be amended,8221; he said.

8220;It has been seven weeks since Kandhamal happened. The centre will have to explain what steps have been taken to contain the communal violence,8221; he said.