The Left parties — CPI and CPI (Marxist) — have criticised BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for ‘unilaterally’ announcing candidates for the ensuing Assembly elections and asserted that the latter owed an explanation to the people of the State on the sudden change in his stand vis-a-vis the Left parties.
A day after the BRS president’s announcement, the Left parties said on Tuesday that the decision would see the BRS lose four to five % of votes which would have otherwise gone in its favour. The two Left parties attributed BRS’ political motives behind the decision while CPI State secretary Kunamaneni Sambasaiva Rao went ahead expressing doubt that the BRS appeared to be going soft on the BJP.
Mr. Sambasaiva Rao, his CPI (M) counterpart Tammineni Veerabhadram and other senior leaders of the two Left parties spoke to the media after convening a meeting to discuss the fall out of Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao’s decision. They asserted that the Left parties would play a key role in the coming elections and “people will understand their strength”.
“We thought of alliance with the BRS as Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao has been repeatedly speaking about the friendly ties with the Left. His announcement of candidates even in the seats sought by the Left parties is an unexpected development,” Mr. Veerabhadram said.
The two leaders recalled how the Left supported the BRS unconditionally in the Munugode bypoll because of which the BRS nominee won the election. “The BRS could not win the bypoll without our support,” Mr. Sambasiva Rao said adding the bye-election was a stepping stone for stalling the BJP’s advent into the South.
Referring to the seat-sharing talks with the BRS leaders in the recent past, they said the Left had asked for a reasonable number of seats as part of the alliance and the BRS president could have easily convinced the party rank and file for allotting them. “It is not the problem because of the seats. We suspect a change in the political approach of the ruling party,” the CPI (M) secretary said.
They recalled how the BRS leaders expressed concern about joining hands with the Congress at the national-level in the fight against the BJP claiming that it was the main Opposition in the State. “We explained the similar situation prevailing in Kerala where the fight is between the UDF and LDF. The Left has joined the INDIA alliance as it is at the national-level,” Mr. Sambasiva Rao said pointing that Left being part of INDIA alliance was not the only reason behind the BRS terminating its relations with the Left.
