INDIA bloc crisis deepens in Puducherry ahead of April polls
INDIA bloc crisis deepens in Puducherry ahead of April polls
Left parties blame Congress and DMK as the INDIA bloc struggles to unite for the Puducherry assembly elections on April 9.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India have openly criticized the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for the current crisis within the INDIA bloc as Puducherry gears up for the April 9 Assembly elections. In separate press conferences, CPI(M) leader K. Balakrishnan and CPI secretary A. M. Saleem argued that the alliance partners are steering the bloc onto divergent electoral paths. They contended the AINRC-BJP government faces strong anti-incumbency linked to corruption charges, which had generated momentum for the INDIA bloc, but the Congress and the DMK failed to present a united front in the fight against the ruling coalition.
Balakrishnan announced that the CPI(M) has put up candidates in Lawspet and Thirubhuvanai, and that the CPI and the VCK will receive support in constituencies where both parties have fields. The overarching aim, he said, is to defeat the AINRC-BJP alliance and to consolidate strength for the INDIA bloc in the Union Territory.
Saleem blamed the Congress for the breakup of the alliance, while noting that the DMK had not been able to secure the CPI a desirable seat. He said the CPI was involved only in seat-sharing talks with the DMK in Puducherry. He also disclosed that he withdrew his candidature from Thattanchavady, where V. Vaithilingam, the Lok Sabha MP and Congress Pradesh Committee chief, had filed nomination papers. The CPI has decided to contest only from the Ozhukarai constituency. Vaithilingam’s entry into the Assembly race after a Lok Sabha win two years ago underscores the ongoing jockeying within the bloc as each party recalibrates its strategy ahead of the vote.
