He is a leftist, already campaigning: Yechury on Kanhaiya

CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said that JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar will be campaigning for Left in the upcoming assembly polls in five states, "as he had already been doing".

"He is a leftist and is already campaigning," Yechury told IANS.

The states of West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will have election in April and May this year.

Left leaders said that students from the student wings of left parties had been campaigning in the elections, for a "United Left" in the past and Kanhaiya Kumar, who is from the Communist Party of India's student wing All India Students Federation was no exception to it.

"He had been campaigning for CPI in his hometown Begusarai in Bihar. He already campaigned during 2014 Lok Sabha elections for the Left. He was not famous at that time though, but now he is. Its natural that he will be campaigning for the left in upcoming assembly elections," CPI-M leader All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) president Subhashini Ali told IANS.

"The whole matter had bought Left at the centre stage of Indian politics though," she added.

Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 12 over allegations of raising anti-India slogans. He was released on bail on Thursday. He comes from Begusarai, a left stronghold in Bihar.