CPM open to national alliance with TMC, but no tie-up in Bengal, Tripura: Sitaram Yechury

Buoyed by its landslide Assembly election victory, the TMC is now seeking to expand its role in national politics, and is also trying to re-establish and strengthen its position in Tripura.

Yechury told reporters at a press conference here, “In 2004, 61 Left MPs were in Parliament. They supported the Congress-led central government. Of them, 57 MPs had defeated the Congress in elections. So, this is not new in Indian democracy. The state politics equation was always different from Central politics. We shared the same anti-BJP platform with the TMC earlier too. In the last meeting, I wrote the resolution of the meeting and Mamata Banerjee signed that.”

In the context of Tripura, the CPI(M) leader said, “The TMC just entered Tripura. We have been fighting the BJP there for three years. Now, the TMC is realising that the BJP is a fascist force. Previously, TMC had some presence in Tripura but all their leaders joined the BJP. So, now let us see what the TMC does.”

The CPI(M) general secretary’s statements came in the wake of Left Front chairperson Biman Bose’s recent remarks that the Left was ready to work with any party except the BJP.

Meanwhile, Yechury said his party would participate in an Opposition meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on August 20. “Fourteen parties nationally are fighting against the BJP. This will continue within and outside Parliament. If other parties want to join us, we will welcome them.”

Lashing out at the BJP on the Pegasus controversy and the Centre’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic, the CPI(M) general secretary said, “This [alleged snooping using the Pegasus spyware] is not only an attack on individual freedom, it is also an attack on democracy. That is most dangerous aspect of the issue. The government is saying outright lies. I have never seen such a government. From August 16, the new ministers of the government will do a ‘yatra’ in 22 states and will travel 20,000 kilometres and will hold more than 1,300 public meetings. Basically, the central government is inviting the third Covid wave. We are opposing this, and we will hold nationwide protests in September on major issues that were decided along with other secular parties. The country is going towards the direction of fascism and Hindutva and we have to resist that.”