The support of the two Left parties — the Communist Party of India and the CPI (Marxist) — to the Congress in the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha is likely to play a crucial role in deciding the outcome in at least some constituencies, especially those in the coal belt.
The CPI resolved to extend support to all the Congress candidates in the fray, the CPI (M) has announced its support in all but one of the 17 constituencies. The CPI (M) is going on its own in the Bhongir Lok Sabha seat in spite of repeated requests from the Congress leadership seeking withdrawal of its candidate to avoid split in the votes.
“The CPI is too accommodative while the CPI (M) maintained its stance during the talks for extending support to the Congress candidates,” a political observer with Left leanings said. The CPI (M) is learnt to have decided to confine itself to a single constituency in the Lok Sabha elections as it did not want to repeat the mistake of contesting several seats without any success in the recent Assembly elections.
Senior leaders of the party who contested the elections could not get even 10,000 votes in the constituencies, primarily in Khammam and Nalgonda which were hitherto strongholds of the Left. The BRS for instance could win the Munugode bypoll in 2022 largely due to the support of the Left parties indicating the considerable strength the parties have in the district.
The two parties are learnt to have opted for course correction in the all-important elections for Lok Sabha and decided to support the Congress to stop the advent of the BJP in these districts. Interestingly, the decision to support the Congress comes in spite of the fact that TPCC president and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has recently criticised veteran CPI (M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan while campaigning for Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad constituency.
But questions are being raised on the transfer of the Left vote to the Congress in these districts especially with the CPI (M) candidate remaining in the fray in Bhongir Lok Sabha constituency and its impact on the other constituencies spread over Nalgonda district. The situation appears to be equally confusing in Khammam district where CPI veteran Puvvada Nageswara Rao’s son and former Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar continues to remain in the BRS.
The renomination of sitting MP Nama Nageswara Rao by the BRS could have an impact on the caste equations in the district. The Congress leadership can however draw solace from the fact that the support of the Left will come in handy for it in the other constituencies in the coal belt area Peddapalle and Mahbubabad where the Left allied trade unions, the AITUC in particular bounced back strongly after the BRS’ debacle in the Assembly elections.
