CPI predicts hung assembly in UP

Patna, Jan 30: CPI on Monday predicted a hung assembly in Uttar Pradesh after the February polls in the state and said the charisma pf AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will not work there.

''It doesn't seem that Rahul Gandhi has succeeded in changing the mood of the people of Uttar Pradesh ... It is not yet apparent that Congress has been able to increase its mass base in the state,'' CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan claimed while talking to newsmen here.

''Congress might be able to increase its tally by one to four but it is clear that the grand old party and BJP are contesting for the third and fourth positions,'' he said adding there would be a straight contest between ruling BSP and the Samajwadi Party in the February polls.

Referring to the assembly polls in the ongoing round of assembly polls in another four states, Bardhan said Congress was likely to reap 'some electoral harvest' in Punjab due to the anti-incumbency wave there but Manpreet Singh Badal-led Peoples Party of Punjab, with which CPI has an alliance, was a strong alternative.

The results of the assembly polls in the five states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa would have a far-reaching impact on the politics of country, he said and praised the heavy voter turnout in Manipur despite the violence unleashed by militants.

PTI