CPI, CPM To Contest Elections In Telangana As Alliance Partners

Left parties the CPI and the CPM have decided to contest the upcoming elections in Telangana as alliance partners.

The State unit secretaries of the CPI and the CPM, Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao and Thammineni Veerabhadram respectively, today said that they had also decided to hold a meeting again on the 1st of next month to finalize the specifics.

They said that the decision would be announced after the seat-sharing arrangements for the upcoming Assembly elections were discussed.

A meeting of the two leaders was held on Thursday at CPM's M B Bhavan in the city.

The CPM's Thammineni, central committee member Cherupalli Seetharamulu, and State secretariat members Julakanti Rangareddy, Pothineni Sudarshan and Jawsley; and the CPI's Sambasiva Rao, national executive member Chada Venkat Reddy, State secretariat members Kalaveni Shankar and Hemanth Kumar, and others participated in the meeting.

Thammineni and Kunamneni later addressed the media.

Speaking on the occasion, Thammineni said that the CPI and the CPI (M) would not only contest the elections together, but would also fight on the people's issues.

He also announced his party's support for the ongoing Anganwadi workers' struggle. He demanded that the government should immediately resolve the issues and take steps to get the strike called off.

Thammineni also said that the BJP government at the Centre should take steps to ensure that the Women's Bill was implemented immediately.

He said that implementing the Bill after the census and the delimitation of constituencies would mean that it was brought in only for electoral gains.

"The Modi government has no intention of uplifting the women of the country. There should also be an OBC quota in the Women's Bill," he said.

CPI State secretary Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao said that the issue of alliance with the Congress did not come up for discussion. He however said that the two parties did want an alliance with the Congress.

"As of now, the CPI and the CPI (M) will contest the next elections together, and the seat-sharing issue will be discussed on the 1st of next month. The joint candidates of the two parties will be announced after that meeting," he said.