CPI-M to go alone in Odisha

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) which had seat-sharing arrangements with the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the 2009 polls, Monday said this time it would fight the elections alone in Odisha.

The party will contest two Lok Sabha and 12 assembly seats, CPI-M's state secretary Janardan Pati told IANS. Elections for the 147-member assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats will be simultaneously held April 10 and April 17.

Pati also announced the names of the constituencies and names of candidates for one Lok Sabha seat and 10 assembly seats. The names of the candidates for the remaining seats would be announced later, he said.

"We did not want seat-sharing arrangement with the BJD because the state government has become pro-corporate and has been neglecting the poor. Law and order has deteriorated, atrocities against women have increased and unemployment has risen to alarming proportions," Pati said.

As many as 40 lakh youth have migrated to other states in search of jobs, at least one-and-a-half lakh schools have vacancies and the government is not putting in efforts to fill vacant posts of teachers, he said.

The party has named Laxman Munda, Salomi Minz, Pradipta Panda, Sanjay Das, Sisir Bhoi, Badrinarayan Das, Golak Bihari Muduli, Biswanath Mohapatra, Bidyadhar Jena and Dandapani Raita as its candidates for Bonai, Rourkela, Nilagiri, Remuna, Jaleswar, Salepur, Ranpur, Nayagarh, Digapahandi and Mohana seats, respectively.

Ali Kishore Patnaik has been announced as the candidate for the Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency.

In the 2009 elections, the CPI-M contested four assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in alliance with the BJD but could not win a single one.