CPI(ML-Lib) to contest 10 assembly seats in Karnataka

The party hopes to do well in the forthcoming assembly polls

The CPI (ML-Liberation) on Tuesday said it would contest 10 seats in the Karnataka assembly elections and the party hoped to do well. "We have decided to contest ten assembly seats in the coming Karnataka assembly elections, mainly from the mineral belt of Bellari, Ganga Dari, Mysore's urban and rural areas and Bangalore," the party's National General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told reporters here. "The people of these regions are disillusioned, angry and determined to throw out looters of mineral resources in Karnataka," Bhattacharya claimed.

He said that the party, fighting for the youth, labour, rights of women, tribals and dalits and the poor, hoped to do well in the coming elections as its popularity has gone up. In support he said that the just concluded 9th Congress of the party attracted 1,200 delegations across the country and for the first time the party increased its politburo's membership to 17 and Central Committee to 59.

He said in reply to a question that any Left party intending to strike a pre or post-poll alliance with a regional party in Bihar or Jharkhand would affect Left unity.

As part of the party's 22nd foundation day, party members would take issues taken up during the 9th Congress to villages, towns and cities during a month-long campaign, he said. A three-day meeting of the Central Committee will be held in Delhi from May 25.