Don't keep off 'secular front', Congress tells CPI-M

Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly and senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday warned the CPI-M against committing "another blunder" by staying away from a "secular front" to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"They committed a blunder by withdrawing support to the first UPA government. Now, when the country is passing through a tough phase as the secular fabric of our country is under threat from the BJP and efforts are being made by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress to form a secular front, the CPI-M should not commit yet another blunder by staying away from this," Chennithala told the media here.

Of late, the CPI-M has been looking unsure about joining an alliance with the Congress.

G. Devarajan, National Secretary of the All India Forward Bloc, who has in the past moved closely with the top CPI-M leadership, told IANS that under the present situation, it was it a bit difficult for the CPI-M to decide whether to align with the Congress.

"While Prakash Karat is strongly against having any truck with the Congress, the faction led by its General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri wants to have a tie-up. Even at their most recent meeting, the Yechury faction had a one vote lead on the issue and it was decided to take up the matter at a later date," said Devarajan.

Devarajan added that while the CPI-M in majority of the states wants a tie-up with the Congress, the Kerala unit was strongly against it.

The issue of alliance with the Congress is again going to come up in the central committee and polit buro meetings of the CPI-M to be held in the second week of December in Delhi, as they are getting ready to prepare the road map for the 22nd party congress to be held in Hyderabad from on April 18-22, 2018.

--IANS

sg/nir/vm