Congress should clear stand: Dipankar Bhattacharya

PATNA: CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said on Wednesday the Congress should make up its mind early if it would contest the upcoming parliamentary elections in Bihar as part of the

Grand Alliance

(GA) or would go alone like in Uttar Pradesh (UP), as the delay on its part has resulted in the “deadlock” among the anti-BJP parties on seat sharing.


“RJD and Congress are the bigger parties in the GA. The seat-sharing talks have been going on for some time, but the deadlock persists and must be broken,” Dipankar said, adding that in this situation, Congress should take early decision on its strategy to defeat the NDA.

“All the parties in the Left and democratic formation should be ready to sacrifice seats in common interest. CPI(ML) has expressed its strong desire to contest six parliamentary seats — Ara, Siwan, Karakat, Jehanabad, Patliputra and Valmikinagar — but the party would not mind making sacrifices on its part. The other parties in the GA should also show similar accommodative stance,” Dipankar said.

Dipankar, accompanied by his party MLA Mahboob Alam and senior functionaries Raja Ram Singh, Dhirendra Kumar Jha and K D Yadav, also said the Left parties were in a position to contest the polls on their own, if the broader alliance is not formed.

He said the Left parties, even though formally not part of the GA, would remain united and have their “committed supporters capable of transferring their votes to the partners in the broad alliance.”