CPI(M) not for tie-up with Congress

The draft political resolution adopted at the meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) here has ruled out any electoral alliance or understanding with the Congress, party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said here on Sunday.

The final decision will be taken at the Party Congress to be held in Hyderabad in April, and electoral tactics will be decided depending on the “concrete situation” in the States.

Mr. Yechury was speaking to journalists at the conclusion of the three-day meeting on Sunday.

“As per the adopted draft political resolution, there will be no understanding or electoral alliance with the Congress. But this is a draft political resolution of the party and the final decision will be taken at the Party Congress, the highest decision-making authority,” Mr. Yechury said.

He said the draft resolution was adopted on the basis of a “majority decision”.

The Polit Bureau’s draft, which ruled out any alliance or understanding with the Congress and which was backed by its former general secretary Prakash Karat, was put to a vote in the Central Committee and supported by 55 members, with 31, including Mr. Yechury, opposing it, and no one abstaining.

The Central Committee has said the main objective of the party is to “defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party” and it will focus on “mobilising all secular democratic forces” for that purpose. To a question whether Congress will be among the secular democratic forces that his party is seeking to unite, Mr. Yechury said: “Our effort will be to mobilise all the secular democratic forces and how that will be done will be decided at the time of elections. Appropriate electoral strategies will be undertaken which will ensure the maximum polling of votes against the BJP.”

As for the coming Assembly elections in Tripura Mr. Yechury said that the BJP is “emerging as the anti-Left” force and was aligning with “extremist organisations.”

“They (BJP) are trying to unite extremist organisations and have already entered into an alliance with Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura,” said Mr. Yechury. He also ruled out possibility of an electoral understanding with Congress as far as the Assembly election in Tripura is concerned.

“We are going (to polls) as Left Front in Tripura. Our main aim is to defeat the BJP there. As far as Congress is concerned in Tripura, much of it was taken by Trinamool Congress earlier and recently by the BJP,” he said.