CPI in fray for four seats in district

Communist Party of India has entered the electoral fray for the Lok Sabha seat and a few Assembly segments with a hope that it could be the starting point for bringing the Left parties – CPI and CPI(M) – to cooperate in elections, CPI district secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murty has said.

However, even after four rounds of talks an agreement eluded the two parties on the seats they would contest in the Assembly segments of Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency and as a result both the parties would be contesting in Gajuwaka, he told media here on Wednesday. The CPI initiated the talks in which they offered not to contest the Lok Sabha seat if the CPI(M) would allow CPI to contest the Gajuwaka Assembly segment.

The CPI(M) made it clear that since it had an agreement with the Jai Samaikyandhra Party it would be leaving the Visakhapatnam seat to them, however, they wanted the CPI to leave Gajuwaka to them. “This defeats the very purpose of our meeting of trying to ensure that the Left parties do not face each other in electoral battle,” chairman emeritus Visakhapatnam Cooperative Urban Bank Limited and CPI candidate for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha Manam Anjaneyulu explained. The idea of getting the Left parties not to fight each other in electoral battles has not succeeded, he added.

“Another reason for I and chairman of the bank and Visakhapatnam West candidate Chalasani Raghavendra Rao withdrawing from electoral fray is the fact that I can better utilise my energies in working for the bank which is on the verge of being declared a scheduled bank. We plan to expand its operations to cover all the 13 districts in Seemandhra regions and also have a footprint in neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Odisha to help it become a multi-state cooperative bank,” Mr Anjaneyulu said.

In the final tally, the CPI is in fray from Payakaraopeta where its city secretary J.V. Prabhakar is the candidate, in Paderu where G. Demudu is the candidate, in Gajuwaka former corporator A.J. Stalin is pitted against CPI(M) candidate Ch. Narasing Rao and in Visakha East it is Devarkonda Markandeyulu.