New Delhi, Nov 25: Without naming Congress, the CPI-M today said it would mobilise people in every constituency of Gujarat to support the "strongest secular candidate" to defeat the BJP. "We will campaign for candidates fighting the BJP. Defeat of the BJP is very essential in the state," CPI-M general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet told reporters here after a three-day meeting of the party's central committee ended yesterday. Though he did not declare that the CPI-M will campaign for the Congress in the state, he said "the election campaign should be so conducted so as to mobilise the people in every constituency to support the strongest secular candidate to defeat the BJP."

Evading questions on which party he blamed for the failure of opposition unity in Gujarat, Surjeet said "we fought for a one-to-one contest in the state. This did not happen but there are still chances of a good fight."

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To a question if it was morally bound to support the Congress, which had given the CPI-M one seat to contest, the veteran Marxist said "there was no such agreement. We are not morally bound."

Asked why the party was not openly campaigning for the Congress, he said "they don't require us. They are a strong force there."
To another query if the Congress felt it could win the assembly election on its own, he said "if it does very good .... anyone who defeats the BJP is okay." Bureau Report