KOZHIKODE: The Dindigul constituency in Tamil Nadu will witness an interesting fight between the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and CPM this Lok Sabha election.
While SDPI is contesting the polls in alliance with AIADMK, CPM is in the DMK-led front. The CPM has fielded its Dindigul district secretary R Sachidanandam in the seat, that the party took from DMK by offering it the Coimbatore seat.
Though the SDPI says it is happy with the alliance with AIADMK as it will help mainstream the party, the move had raised eyebrows as AIADMK was in the NDA until the last elections. However, SDPI said it went ahead with an alliance with AIADMK only after the latter left the NDA.
“We are looking at the present policies of AIADMK, not the past. Many parties will be in quandary if the past of their allies is dug up. CPM was the ally of the Jan Sangh in the 1977 elections,” said SDPI national general secretary Abdul Majeed Faizi. He said SDPI’s partnership with AIADMK will make the latter’s return to the NDA almost impossible.
“We will be contesting in Dindigul on AIADMK’s symbol. It will be more convenient for us as we have no registered symbol,” said Faizi.
The party has announced 17 candidates so far. Those for the remaining seats in states, including Kerala, will be declared within a week. In the 2019 LS polls, SDPI contested in nine seats in Kerala.
Faizi said there was a delay in deciding the party’s election strategy in Kerala as they were busy with Jana Munnetta Yathra, which concluded on March 2. “The decision on the seats and candidates is taken by our Kerala unit. We have asked them to expedite the process,” said Faizi.
Exploring ways to defeat the BJP has been the SDPI’s stance. Hence, SDPI may not contest in seats where BJP has a chance to win, to ensure votes against the latter are not divided.