CPI(M) ignored our claim on Kollam seat: N.K. Premachandran

Says party wants to grow at the cost of its Left allies

March 18, 2014 02:55 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 07:28 pm IST - KOLLAM:

N.K. Premachandran, UDF candidate from Kollam, filing his nomination papers on Monday. Photo: C. Suresh Kumar

N.K. Premachandran, UDF candidate from Kollam, filing his nomination papers on Monday. Photo: C. Suresh Kumar

Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader and United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate in the Kollam Lok Sabha constituency N.K. Premachandran on Monday asked the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] to state whether the party had made any attempt to hold talks with the RSP at any time on the Kollam seat issue.

At a Meet-the-Press here on Monday, Mr. Premachandran said that instead of passing the buck, the CPI(M) leadership should feel guilty for impairing the Left Democratic Front (LDF). The CPI(M) wants to grow at the cost of its Left allies, he said.

Mr. Premachandran said that he won’t forget the charges he had raised against the Congress on various issues. Now as the RSP had become a part of the UDF such issues would be raised in the proper forum. The party had behaved similarly when it was in the LDF.

‘LDF weakening’

He said that the LDF was becoming weak and the CPI(M) was responsible for that. The CPI(M) attitude was threatening the existence of its allies. It was precisely for this reason that the RSP was forced to leave the front. He said the CPI(M) allegation that his parliamentary ambitions triggered the RSP’s exit from the LDF and entry into the UDF was totally baseless.

For the RSP leaders, cadres and sympathisers it is important that the RSP exists. It is natural for any political party to have parliamentary ambitions and the CPI(M) is not above board when it comes to such ambitions. That is why the CPI(M) made a futile attempt to have an alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu. The CPI(M) snatched the Kollam seat from the RSP on flimsy grounds.

Whenever the party made attempts to hold talks on the issue of returning the seat, the CPI(M) simply ignored the RSP, Mr. Premachandran said. The party had on several occasion made it clear to the CPI(M) that the RSP should be given the opportunity to contest Kollam Lok Sabha seat. Six months ago the RSP had sent a formal letter to the LDF convener. Later during an LDF meet senior RSP leader V.P. Ramakrishna Pillai reminded the LDF leadership about that letter and stated that the issue should not be kept pending till the eleventh hour.

Charges baseless

“But the CPI(M) was always averse to hold talks on the issue. So the RSP leadership went to the CPI(M) on March 7 again. But we were bluntly told that there was no seat for the RSP. Now since the CPI(M) leadership cannot find logical answers to the issue, the party was resorting baseless allegations,” Mr Premachandran said.

The RSP quit the LDF with the decision of contesting alone. When that polarised the LDF, the UDF leadership invited the RSP to join the front and it was unanimously accepted by the party. Earlier in day, Mr. Premachandran, accompanied by the Labour Minister Shibu Baby John, RSP State secretary A.A. Azeez, District Congress Committee president Pratapavarma Thampan and Indian Union Muslim League District President A. Younus Kunju, filed his nomination before District Collector Pranab Jyothinath.

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