CPI open to tie-up with other smaller parties for Bihar polls

Assembly election in Bihar is not a bi-polar contest between NDA and JDU-RJD-Congress grand alliance, CPI said today and indicated its openness for a tie-up with other smaller parties in the key Hindi state.
"It is not that Bihar has been polarised between BJP-led NDA and the Mahagathbandhan of JD-U, RJD and Congress. One cannot come to that conclusion that Bihar has already been polarised between the two.
"There are people, who are opposed to the BJP but are necessarily not going to vote for Mahagathbandhan. Similarly there are people, who may be opposed to the Mahagathbandhan but are not going to vote for BJP," senior CPI leader D Raja told PTI.

Noting that six Left parties in Bihar namely CPI-M, CPI, Forward Bloc, RSP, SUCI (Communist) and CPI-ML have already decided to fight as an independent united block, Raja said,"Left is of the view that Bihar needs a new political alternative that can be provided by the Left projecting a pro-people agenda.
"People of Bihar need a choice after long years. Left is providing them an option. It's not that they do not have an option."
When asked about possibility of alliance between Left and other parties like NCP or SP, which had walked out of the grand secular alliance, he said it is for the state units of Left parties to decide.

"It is for state units to decide. If other parties want to talk to the Left, if they are serious about it. They have to talk to our state units. It is for the state units to decide," he said.

Ruling out the possibility of an alliance with the Janata Parivar, the Left parties had in first week of July announced their decision of contesting the crucial Bihar Assembly election as a "united" bloc.
The CPI had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Bihar in alliance with JD(U).
Over the years, the Left, which had a number of strong pockets in Bihar, has been reduced to a marginal player in the state politics after the Mandal politics around three decades back.

Election dates for the 243-member Bihar assembly are likely to be announced this week.