Left may call for defeat of BJP in uncontested seats

Left parties may appeal to people to defeat BJP in constituencies of Uttar Pradesh where they are not fielding candidates in the Assembly polls, CPI General Secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy hinted today.
Earlier this week, Left parties announced a list of candidates for 105 Assembly seats. These six parties, including CPI and CPI(M), have already decided to contest 140 of 403 seats in the UP elections.
On strategy of the Left in the remaining seats where they are not contesting, Reddy said they have not yet taken any final decision.
He noted that Left parties cannot appeal to people to vote in favour of a particular party.

"We will take a decision later (on strategy in segments where they are not contesting) and, maybe, we will leave it to people and make a general appeal to defeat communal forces," Reddy told PTI here.
In that case, it is quite likely that the people (who would have backed Left parties had they fielded candidates) would vote for such a party which can defeat the BJP, he said.

"Our main target is to see to it that the Left enters Legislative Assembly (in Uttar Pradesh) to give voice to the downtrodden and, naturally, we want the communal forces to be defeated," Reddy said.

Samajwadi Party leaders, including UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, are already strategising on an alliance with Congress and RLD to prevent BJP's march to power in the key state.
Uttar Pradesh goes to polls in seven phases between February 11 and March 8.