New Delhi: The CPI (M) will stand from 19 seats in the Karnataka Assembly polls, while in the other constituencies of the state, they will back the “strongest” candidate who can defeat the BJP.
The names of candidates who willcontest the polls was approved at the party’s two-day Central Committee meeting which was held in the national capital. At the meeting which ended on Friday, the party also discussed the overall political situation in the state where Assembly elections have just been announced.
“In the seats that we are not contesting, we have decided to back the strongest possible candidate who can defeat the BJP,” CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury told the media.
However, Polit Bureau member and former party General Secretary Prakash Karat was more forthright and said that the CPI (M) can support the Congress as well as the JD (S) in seats where it was not contesting, and help defeat the BJP.
Sources, however, said that a section of the party was cagey about supporting the JD(S) as they felt it can turn towards the BJP depending on the post-poll situation.
Friday's developments ended long held speculation that Mr Yechury and Mr Karat are at loggerheads over whether an alliance with Congress at the national level was necessary for the CPI (M) to keep the BJP out.
The draft political resolution would be adopted at the party congress in April in Hyderabad and would be the roadmap for the party for its 2019 poll sojourn.
The two-day Central Committee meeting also talked about the post-poll violence in Tripura and the “rising” communal incidents in states like West Bengal and Bihar.
