THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ruling out any misconception over the importance of the grand old party, newly elected CPM general secretary M A Baby said on Tuesday that the opposition cannot unseat the RSS-backed BJP without the involvement of the Indian National Congress.
“The Congress has a big role to play in defeating the BJP. They too should understand this,” Baby told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
“The Congress should come out of their old economic policy implemented at the time of former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s government and say that it was a mistake. And they must also make it clear that the opposition against communalism includes all types of communalism. The CPM will cooperate with the Congress wherever possible.”
He said many other INDIA bloc parties too have issues with cooperating with the Congress in certain states. “AAP did not cooperate in the Delhi assembly elections. Mamata (Banerjee) will not cooperate with the Congress in West Bengal,” he pointed out.
On CPM’s decisive role in forming the INDIA bloc, Baby said it is wrong on the part of some people to say that Sitaram Yechuri had done it by himself. “It was Yechuri’s contribution as the general secretary of CPM. I will work to strengthen the block as the general secretary,” he said. He clarified that the CPM Party Congress gave an exception on age limit not just to Pinarayi Vijayan but to P K Sreemathy and Mohammed Tarigami as well.
Baby also criticised Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, without naming him, for having asked the former to keep a distance from the circle including Pinarayi Vijayan.
“The CPM has never allowed the BJP to open an account in Kerala. We closed their account in Nemom (assembly seat). However, in Thrissur (Lok Sabha seat), it was the Congress votes that went to the BJP. Moreover, the Congress had presented them with a Rajya Sabha seat in Rajasthan after K C Venugopal vacated it. The opposition leader was the one who stood before the photo of a Sangh parivar leader and he now criticises the CPM,” he said.
Baby also downplayed SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan’s remarks on Malappuram.
“On certain points, he makes statements we cannot accept. The SNDP Yogam cannot reach any understanding with the BJP,” he added.
On the CMRL issue, he said: “There is no question of impropriety in chief minister’s daughter Veena T receiving service charge from a company in which the state government has a share.”
