HYDERABAD: The alliance against the Congress and Praja Rajyam is now clear. It would be TDP-CPI-CPM combination. CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan has made it clear to the party State unit that it has to support the CPM and the Telugu Desam. Though the CPI wanted to align with the Praja Rajyam, the party national leadership put its foot firmly down on the proposal as the alliance would not fit the national level efforts of the two Left parties - CPI and CPM - to forge a third alternative to the Congress and the BJP.
Bardhan made it clear to the CPI State executive that Left unity is of paramount importance and hence the CPI has to join hands with the CPM which is committed to working with the TDP. This means that the CPI would have to bid good bye to the tinsel hero Chiranjeevi though party State secretary K Narayana and several district units of the party wished they could sail with the film actor.
“We have brought to the notice of the national leadership the possible harm that would be done to the party in the event of it going along with the TDP but in view of the national policy of the party that a third alternative had to be built against the Congress and the BJP, we agreed to join hands with the CPM-TDP combine,” a senior State party leader said. Bardhan, at party State executive meeting explained to the members how imperative it had become for the party to forge an alliance with the CPM and the role the TDP would be playing in checkmating the designs of the Congress and the BJP to come to power at the Centre.
The decision of the party would be conveyed to the members of the CPI State council which will meet for two days beginning tomorrow.
As the State executive of the CPI was about to meet this morning, probably in a last ditch effort, Praja Rajyam emissary and Chiranjeevi’s brother-in-law met Narayana and tried to prevail on him the benefits of staying with the matinee idol.
Narayana reportedly told him about the national line of the party and the inevitability of the State unit abiding by it. Interestingly, the alliance among the TDP-CPI and CPM has come as great relief to the BJP as its path is clear for it to strike a post-poll alliance with Chiranjeevi.