Miffed over the Congress-DMK grouping’s decision not to accommodate the party for contesting the Assembly poll under the Secular Progressive Democratic Alliance, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has in-principle decided to contest alone from four seats in the Union Territory.
“We are really unhappy the way we were treated by the Congress and the DMK during seat-sharing talks. We have closely associated with Congress and other secular parties in opposing the policies of the former Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi and on the Centre’s attitude towards the elected government. We fought for the last four years to protect the rights of the Congress government in the Union Territory but we were ignored,” party secretary R. Rajangam told The Hindu .
A party delegation on Friday met former Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy to express displeasure over not being considered for the poll.
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A few days ago, the Congress signed a seat-sharing pact with the DMK by allocating 13 constituencies of the total 30.
After leaving one seat each to the CPI and the VCK, the Congress decided to contest from the remaining 15, leaving no room for the CPI(M) in the SDPA.
“We have told the Congress leadership to give due recognition to our party. If we don’t get a positive response in a day, the party will be fielding candidates in four constituencies,” Mr. Rajangam said.
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The local leadership had informed the Tamil Nadu unit ofi ts decision to field candidates from Thirubuvanai, Bahour, Lawspet and T.R. Pattinam constituencies.
‘Committed votes’
The party was keen to contest from Thirubuvanai due to its cadre base in the constituency, Mr Rajangam said.
“We have committed votes in all these four constituencies,” he added.
The last time the CPI(M) got an elected representative in the Assembly was in 1980 when its nominee K.V. Raghavan won the Mahe seat.
In the last Assembly election, CPI(M)-backed Independent V. Ramachandran won the Mahe constituency seat.