AP: CPI(M) rules out revival of ties with Congress

Hyderabad, May 20: CPI(M) Andhra Pradesh secretary B V Raghavulu today ruled out revival of electoral ties with the ruling Congress in the state.

Participating in a meet-the-press programme organised by the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), he said CPI-M would oppose both the Congress and the BJP in the state, in keeping with the party's decision at the national level to strive for a Third alternative in the country.

The CPI(M) would work for the defeat of ''anti-people and corrupt'' Congress Government in the state and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the May 29 byelections. The party would support the CPI in two Assembly constituencies and the TDP in other constituencies in the bypolls, the Polit Bureau member said.

Justifying his party's ties with the TDP for the byelections after fighting against the alleged ''World Bank-dictated'' economic policies when that party was in power, he said the CPI(M) had snapped ties with the TDP only after it aligned with the ''communal'' BJP.

Now that the TDP had distanced from the BJP, the party had decided to have ties with it notwithstanding differences over economic policies, he added.

Despite having differences with the Congress on economic policies, the CPI(M) had aligned with it in 2004 only to defeat the BJP, he reasoned, adding that his party would oppose the ''anti-people'' economic policies whether pursued by the Congress or TDP when in power.

The party's main agenda was to isolate the BJP and his party had extended support even to the TRS in Secunderabad as well as Musheerabad in 2004 despite differences with it over the Telangana issue.

Refusing to give a direct reply to Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's remark that the CPI(M) was trying to bring together the TDP and the yet-to-be-floated party of matinee idol Chiranjeevi, giving a go-by to ideology, he said, ''let Chiranjeevi first float a party.

We will decide only after knowing its stand on several aspects, including secularism and imperialism.''

UNI