BackPolitics | CPM to meet from today on election manifesto
Politics | CPM to meet from today on election manifesto
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New Delhi: Top leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, will meet for two days starting Saturday to finalize the party’s poll manifesto and its alliances for the April-May general election.
The CPM, which has decided to contest 80 seats, mostly in West Bengal and Kerala, will give emphasis “to fighting against both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in its manifesto", said a senior party leader, who didn’t want to be identified.
“The manifesto will explain why we had supported the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2004 and the reasons why we want to defeat both the parties," said the leader.
The CPM has already forged electoral alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu and Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh. Although there is no formal seat sharing agreement yet, Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Bahujan Samaj Party also has agreed to work with the CPM to defeat “anti-secular" forces.
The party, which had 42 members in the outgoing Lok Sabha, is expected to announce its candidates’ list by 10 March.
—Liz Mathew
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Tie-up with Congress has broken, says SP
New Delhi: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Friday declared that its alliance with the Congress was “broken". The statement comes in the wake of the Congress party announcing 24 candidates in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls.
“I don’t want to use any harsh words, but the alliance is broken.... The obituary of the alliance was written the day Congress had announced its list of 24 candidates in Uttar Pradesh," SP general secretary Amar Singh said.
He said the SP was ready to give a maximum of 17 seats but the Congress had been demanding a minimum of 25 of the total 80 seats in the politically crucial state. Earlier, the SP had announced 62 nominees.
—PTI
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