Though the CPI(M) leadership has ruled out the possibility of any electoral alliance with the Congress for now, there is a strong possibility of the left party entering into an alliance with the Congress in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere for the upcoming lok Sabha election.
The draft political resolution adopted by the Central Committee of the CPI(M) on Sunday ruled out the possibility of the party forging any kind of alliance with the Congress. Though Sitaram Yechury, the general secretary of the CPI(M), is pitching strongly for an alliance with the Congress, the faction headed by former secretary Prakash Karat who has the support of the Kerala unit is opposing the stance of Yechury.
“This is only for public consumption. The CPI(M) will have electoral alliance or strategic alliance with the Congress in most of the States except Kerala, Tripura and Bengal,” said RR Gopaljee, editor, Dinamalar, leading Tamil newspaper. He told The Pioneer that the CPI(M) was in alliance with the Congress during the recent by-election to the RK Nagar Assembly constituency in the State. The Congress, the CPI(M) and the CPI were campaigning jointly for the DMK candidate, though he lost his deposit in the hustings.
“So long as Sitaram Yechury is there in the party, the CPI(M) would have political alliance with the Congress,” said N Kalyanasundaram, veteran journalist and chronicler of Tamil Nadu’s political history. He pointed out that the CPI(M) fought the 1999 and 2004 lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress. “The only difference was that while in 1999 they fought under the leadership of Jayalalithaa, the 2004 lok Sabha election saw them aligning with the DMK. Karunanidhi was the leader of the Democratic Progressive Alliance in which the Congress, the CPI(M), the CPI, the PMK and the MDMK contested together. The CPI(M) leaders were seen openly campaigning for the Congress and vice versa in 1999 and 2004,” said Kalyanasundaram.
There was an embargo by the CPI(M) on aligning with the Congress during that time too. “But I have seen the then CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury taking part in the UPA conclave convened by Sonia Gandhi,” said Appukuttan Vallikkunnu, a Marxist thinker based in Kochi.
The CPI(M) was part of the secular alliance led by Jayalalithaa in the 2001 Tamil Nadu assembly election. “The other constituents of the front were the Congress, the Muslim league, the Indian National league and the CPI,” said Kalyanasundaram. “Despite a special court n Tamil Nadu sentencing Jayalalithaa to two years imprisonment in the TANSI land deal case, the CPI(M) had forged an alliance with her and the Congress to defeat BJP's communalism. The AIADMK front had swept the election and Jayalalithaa was sworn in as Chief Minister,” he pointed out.
The CPI(M) had aligned with the DMK and the Congress for the 2006 assembly election and sailed through the contest. When the CPI(M) and the CPI contested the 2014 lok Sabha election sans any kind of alliance with other parties, the two parties got swept away and all the candidates fielded by the lefts forfeited their security deposits in all the constituencies.
“The CPI(M) has no other option but to align with the Congress when it would be time for the 2019 lok Sabha elections. They may follow a different strategy in the three States where they are strong, Kerala, Bengal and Tripura. But in rest of the country , they would play second fiddle to the Congress,” said Gopalji.
Vallikkunnu described that strategy as “tactical line”. “The party had decided in 2002 itself not to have any kind of alliance with the Congress. But electoral tactics differ from decisions declared at Party Congresses,” he pointed out.