Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy on Sunday made it clear that his party had not approached any party other than All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
“Other parties also have not sought our support,” Mr Reddy told reporters, after participating in a meeting here to finalise the party nominee for the Rajya Sabha elections.
Mr. Reddy said that when his party had approached the AIADMK for votes the ruling party could spare, Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa had expressed inability to support the CPI as her party had fielded five candidates.
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Earlier, at a meeting of the State executive on Sunday, the CPI formally decided to field Mr. Raja again for the election. The Central Executive Committee had already cleared his name. Later in the day, he met Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders. Mr Raja will file his nomination on Monday.
CPI state secretary D. Pandian told reporters that there was no truth in the media reports that he was also interested in contesting in the elections.
“I never offered myself as a candidate and my name was never discussed in the party meeting. Whatever appeared in the media was a figment of imagination,” he said.
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Asked why he kept silent instead of issuing a denial when his name cropped up in the media, he said since the reports were attributed to some anonymous names, he did not want to issue a clarification.
Mr. Pandian declined to comment whether the party was disappointed by the decision of the AIADMK leadership to field candidate for the fifth seat. “I do not like to go into the issue now,” he said.