HYDERABAD: After their severe drubbing in the recent Assembly elections, both the Left parties - CPI and CPM - are busy searching for new partners with an eye on the elections to local bodies.
Though the CPM has not yet decided with whom it should sail along, it has made up its mind on snapping ties with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) which was a part of the Grand Alliance that the TDP and the Left formed ahead of the recently concluded Assembly elections. CPM State secretary B V Raghavulu said as the TRS had joined the BJP-led NDA, his party would have nothing to do with the separatist party. As for new alliance partners, the party appears to be weighing its options still. At its State secretariat meeting here on Sunday, which was attended by party general secretary Prakash Karat and politburo member Sitaram Yechury, a discussion reportedly took place on the direction the TRS had taken immediately after the elections.
The CPI, on the other hand, is anxious to get closer to Chiranjeevi, dumping the Telugu Desam Party which led the Grand Alliance in the recent elections. CPI State secretary K Narayana, who was keen on a tie-up with Chiranjeevi for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, had to join the TDP’s Grand Alliance under pressure from the party national leadership.
According to Narayana, the Grand Alliance is still in tact as it has never been disbanded but it is now becoming increasingly difficult for the CPI to sail with the TDP and the CPM because of the role they had played during elections. ‘‘It is time the TDP and the CPM did some introspection on what they had done and how their actions had become counter-productive,’’ Narayana said.