Once bitten twice shy …. goes the adage. The Left parties, probably taking a cue from the past experience, have decided to face the elections as the ‘Left combine’ in a bid to return to power in the municipal corporation after a gap of nearly two-and-half decades.
History shows that the Left parties could come to power only when they formed an alliance with each other and failed to do so when they allied with either the Congress or the Telugu Desam Party. The parties could come to power and bag the Mayor post only twice in the five terms held for VMC so far. The Left parties could not come to power after 1995 elections.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) combine contested the elections jointly in 1981, the year the Vijayawada Municipality was upgraded into a corporation. They swept the polls and bagged the Mayor post as well.
The State government conducted elections again in 1987. The CPI contested the elections alone, while the CPI (M) sailed with the Telugu Desam Party.
The Congress came to power in the election and won Mayor post also.
The Left parties came to their senses and joined hands again in the subsequent election held in 1995 and won and also bagged the Mayor post but the same feat could not be repeated in 2000.
The TDP, which was at the helm of affairs at the State and formed part of the Central government, could manage to win only the Mayor’s post with Congress winning in a majority of divisions in the elections.
The TDP had the support of the BJP which was riding on the crest of its popularity then.
Left parties sailed with Congress party in 2005 elections. As per a pre-poll alliance, the CPI corporator Tadi Sakuntala became Mayor for a year as part of an understanding.
The CPI (M), however, kept itself away from Mayor post. Congress corporators Mallika Begum and M.V. Ratna Bindu shared the Mayor post for the rest of the term.
It may be recalled that the CPI city unit, recently, wrote a letter to CPI (M) expressing interest in forging an alliance for local body elections. CPI State secretary K. Narayana during his recent visit stressed on forging alliance saying “They haven’t responded yet but the Left emerged victorious when both contested together.”
