THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Undeterred by the jolt it suffered after the exit of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar from the alliance, the INDIA bloc partners are close to finalising the seat sharing agreement, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Tuesday.
Addressing the media after CPM’s three-day central committee meeting, Yechury said, “seat sharing and seat adjustments will be completed at the state level. Discussions have started. In some states they are reaching the final stage.”
On Nitish quitting the coalition, he said the JD(U) supremo was “solely responsible” for the decision.
Asserting that CPM’s principal aim was to defeat the BJP, he justified the party fighting the Congress in Kerala and joining hands with that party in West Bengal. If all the partners of the INDIA bloc fight the elections together in some states, BJP would benefit. For instance, “in Kerala, because of the straight fight between the LDF and (the Congress-led) UDF, BJP could not win a single seat. In West Bengal, if all the partners of the INDIA bloc come together, it will only help the BJP. The same is the case in Punjab. Electoral politics is not mere arithmetic”, he said.
Dismissing the theory that the CPM ends up loser due to the tie-up with Congress in West Bengal, Yechury said the combined vote of the CPM, Congress and IFS is much more than the votes they got in the earlier elections. “There is a very big improvement,” he said. Responding to the BJP’s claims of winning at least three seats from Kerala, he said the people would decide on that.
Modi govt pushing CAA to reap electoral gains: Yechury
Asked about Rahul Gandhi contesting from Wayanad, Yechury said it is Congress’ prerogative.
Yechury held Congress’ recourse to competitive soft Hindutva responsible for its defeat in the recently-held elections to three state assemblies. It only led to further strengthening the hold of Hindutva on a significant section of the people. “The Modi government is now pushing the CAA to further sharpen communal polarisation and to reap electoral gains,” he alleged.
The CPM central committee called upon all the state units to organise protest programmes on February 8 in solidarity with the protest dharna to be held in New Delhi by the LDF government in Kerala. The party also demanded the central election commission to make arrangements to tally at least 50% of VVPAT with that recorded in the control unit.