ML: Anti-BJP parties should remain united

PATNA: CPI (ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Wednesday said the constituent parties of the anti-BJP Grand Alliance (GA) should take pledge publicly before the elections that they in no situation would crossover to the NDA after the parliamentary polls in 2019 and the assembly polls in 2020.
“Once the GA is formed, its constituent parties should take the pledge publicly that they will not switch sides after the elections,” Dipankar said, adding the GA formation in the state had not yet started, but it was imperative that the parties forming it should also stick to its declared principles.
He said the GA was also formed in the state before the 2015 assembly elections, but people of the state also saw how the JD(U) walked out of it in July last year and went on to form the NDA government in the state with the BJP. “This fiasco should not be repeated either nationally or in the state,” he said.
As of now, the six-party Left combine, including the CPI (ML), CPI and CPM, appeared to be with the RJD-led group that also includes the Congress and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular). They have also announced to form and remain united in their own front in the state.
“The NDA constituents have by and large remained mum over the events taking place in the country, like undermining of the established institutions and the plight of farmers, besides other issues. They are only talking about seat-sharing. The issues plaguing the country and its people are not on their mind,” Dipankar said, adding the alliance should not be formed just for the sake of seat-sharing.
Dipankar was talking to media persons after the conclusion of the two-day conference of the CPI (ML)-affiliated union of agricultural workers at Jehanabad on Tuesday. He was accompanied by CPI (ML) state secretary Kunal and senior functionary Santosh Sahar.