With the Left parties turning in their worst-ever performance in Lok Sabha elections in over six decades, veteran Communist leader Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy Friday raised the pitch for their reunification.
Mr. Reddy, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), said his party has always been suggesting that the unity of the Left movement is the need of the hour and still feels so.
“Of course, that’s not the only solution (to revive the Left). That will give more confidence among the ranks of Left movement in the country,” he said.
Asked if there was a need to give a push to the efforts of reunification following the debacle of the Left in the elections, Mr. Reddy said: “Yes, all the Left parties should think of it. There is an urgent need to rethink at the earliest.”
He said the Left parties were not expecting such a “disastrous results” in the Lok Sabha elections, and were hoping to get 15-20 seats. The Left is down to five seats in the Lok Sabha — three CPI (M) and two CPI.
Mr. Reddy termed the Left drawing a blank in West Bengal as a “very big setback.”
The four-party Left Front, that ruled the state for 34 years till 2011, could manage a meagre 7.8 per cent votes with its candidates losing deposits in all seats but one.
“Situation (for the Left in West Bengal) was bad even earlier but we were hoping to revive; that did not take place,” he said.
“As party general secretary, I also take the responsibility for the ‘catastrophic defeat’ of CPI in the elections,” Mr. Reddy said.
