Six Left parties to contest together in Bihar polls

Six Left parties on Monday joined hands for the first time in Bihar to contest the upcoming assembly polls as a 'bloc' to take on the BJP-led NDA and the grand alliance of the JD-U, the RJD and the Congress.

In a joint appeal issued here at a convention attended by thousands of cadres, the Left parties urged the people to defeat "feudal, communal and corporate forces" led by "castiest" and "opportunistic" alliances.

"The Left parties have come together as a bloc to provide an option to the people to provide 'people's rule' in the true sense," it said.

Top national leaders of the Communist Party of India, CPI-Marxist, CPI-Marxist-Leninist, Forward Bloc, Socialist Unity Centre of India and Revolutionary Socialist Party addressed the convention with an aim to make the Left parties a third and alternative political force in the Bihar polls.

CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the six parties would contest all 243 assembly seats.

"We have decided to contest all seats and seat-sharing will be finalised soon," he said.

Bhattacharya ruled out the possibility of joining hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party. "We have formed only a bloc of Left parties," he said.

CPI leader A.B. Bardhan said the Left parties joined hands to awaken the people of Bihar to defeat the "feudal, communal, corporate forces" led by the BJP and the "opportunistic alliance" of the Janata Dal-United, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.