CPI(M) to ally with TRS for 2023 Telangana elections

Buoyed by the victory of Left parties in alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the recent Munugode byelection, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) will contest the state Assembly elections in 2023 in alliance with the TRS. The announcement was made by state secretary of the CPI(M), Tammineni Veerabhadram, on Sunday, November 13, at a meeting held in Muthagudem village in Khammam district where Left parties continue to have a presence. Speaking at the meeting, he said that the alliance with the TRS will continue in the elections.

Veerabhadram asserted that the CPI(M) and CPI will win all seats in Khammam and Nalgonda district constituencies and “bring back the party’s lost glory”. The election is likely to happen in 2023. The CPI, meanwhile, has maintained that the announcement made by Veerabhadram was his individual opinion and that no talks were held between the parties regarding the alliance. 

Telangana deputy secretary of CPI Palla Venkat Reddy told TNM, “No official discussion took place so far. Our party policy is that we will continue with the alliance as part of our anti-Modi agenda. The reason for our alliance in Munugode was to defeat the BJP. If the TRS wants to continue with the alliance we will extend it for the election.” Munugode constituency comes under the Nalgonda district, and the bye-election was won by the TRS.

The CPI and the CPI(M) have been taking credit for the electoral victory of TRS candidate Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy in Munugode, which saw a fierce battle between the TRS and the BJP. According to the CPI and CPI(M), the parties have a combined vote bank of 20,000 votes and that they could bring in 10,000 votes into TRS’s kitty, ensuring a crucial victory for the TRS in Munugode.

While the recent victory has brought some relief to the Left parties, both CPI and CPI (M) have been steadily losing their base in Telangana. The parties did not contest from Munugode in the 2018 Assembly election, and also refrained from contesting in the recent bye-poll, choosing instead to support the TRS. The CPI has won the Munugode seat five times in the past, the last time in 2004. 

Similarly, they refrained from contesting in the bypoll held recently and instead supported the TRS. CPI had won the Munugode seat five times. The last time they won the seat was in 2004.