Patna: The claims of a wider Left unity to
take on the NDA, the RJD-LJP combine and the Congress came a
cropper in Bihar with none of the major allies willing to
yield in the seat sharing process.
So, the major Left parties -- CPI-ML (Liberation), CPI
and CPI-M -- have ignored the interests of five smaller
parties like All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and Revolutionary
Socialist party (RSP), both constituents of the ruling Left
Front in West Bengal.
Besides AIFB and RSP, Socialist Unity Centre of India-
Communist (SUCI-C), CPI-ML and Marxist Communist Party of
India-United (MCPI-U) have announced to contest in 97 seats
to protest the `big brother attitude` of the three major
parties.
Though the three had announced on September 2 that
they will fight jointly to avoid fragmentation of votes, it
failed to happen.
These parties reached a seat-sharing agreement for 171
seats so far and kept the option open for friendly fight in
the rest 72 of the total 243 seats in Bihar.
CPI-ML (L) office secretary Santosh Sahar said the
three parties would contest 171 seats in alliance and "there
will be friendly fight in at least 30 constituencies".
The CPI has so far released a list 58 candidates with
desire to contest in a few more seats.
"Our party has tried its best to fully comply with the
seat-sharing agreement with the CPI-ML (L) and the CPI (M).
But the party has also decided to field a few candidates
against their nominees in friendly fight," said CPI state
secretary Badri Narayan Lal.
PTI
