CPM snubs TDP, to go it alone in bypolls

HYDERABAD: Even as the CPM has decided to contest on its own in the by-elections, the Telugu Desam is still hopeful of a tie-up with the Left party.CPM state secretary BV Raghavulu declared on Saturday that his party would not forge any electoral alliance with the TDP and  field its candidates in two of the seven Assembly constituencies which are going to poll on March 18. Raghavulu made it clear that the CPM would support only the Left forces in the by-elections and not back the TDP candidates. However, TDP Politburo member K Yerran Naidu declared that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu would speak to Raghavlu and sort out the issue. “Even if the CPM contests the by-elections on its own, it should not be construed as its snapping of ties with the TDP. The CPM may forge electoral alliance with the TDP in the 2014 general election,” the TDP leader hoped.At the party’s recent state committee meeting in Khammam, Raghavulu declared that the CPM would maintain equi-distance from the TDP and YSRC. Later, Naidu told reporters in Nellore that he would speak to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and set things right.The CPM has distanced itself from the TDP and has been taking up agitational programmes, including the one on power tariff hike, on its own.Another opposition party, the BJP, too wants to contest the by-elections on its own in the absence of a consensus among the constituents of the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC). The CPI is yet to announce its stance.