Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijyan has denied that his party has entered into an understanding with the Congress in West Bengal.
“Rumours in this connection are concocted; there is no question of an alliance with the votaries of neo-liberal policies,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan said this while addressing the media here on Saturday when he arrived leading the Nava Kerala march.
The last CPI(M) party congress had taken a strong stand to oppose the Congress. The neo-liberal policies were as dangerous as the communal agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he said.
“Media reports in this connection are cock and bull stories. A section of the media which spread the slander of group wrangles within the Kerala unit of the CPI(M) is now spreading the same sham about the CPI(M)’s West Bengal unit,” Mr. Vijayan alleged.
He said if the Left Democratic Front (LDF) comes to power in the coming Assembly elections, no one will be hounded in the name of corruption. “But the law will take its own course.”
He reiterated that the budget presented by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy appeared to be the election manifesto of the United Democratic Front (UDF). The allocation of Rs.500 crore in the budget for rubber farmers was a stunt. In last year’s budget also a similar allocation was made but no rubber farmer benefitted.
‘No decision taken’
“No decision has been taken about including the Kerala Congress (B) led by R. Balakrishna Pillai into the LDF. But this issue will he discussed by the LDF.”
The decision of Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Kovoor Kunjumon to quit the party was seen differently. Such decisions which served to strengthen the LDF was always welcome and would be promoted, Mr. Vijayan said.
Any decision to give an extension to Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson would be opposed. If Mr. Thomson was given an extension after the election notification, the Election Commission should intervene, he said.
Mr. Vijayan protested against the arrest and remand of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in the name of observing the death anniversary of Afzal Guru.
The allegations that anti-national slogans were raised during the observation were not true.
One of the communal agenda of the Modi government was to spread slander against higher education institutions and then close down such institutions under that excuse, he alleged.
