Left stalled BJP in Kerala: YechuryLook at Goa before asking who is BJP’s ‘A or B’ team, CPI(M) leader tells Congress

Days after attacking the Congress for spending 18 days of its Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala, the CPI(M) piped down its criticism, with its general secretary calling it the Congress’s prerogative to decide “how many days it spends where” though he did not shrink back from hitting out at Congress leader Jairam Ramesh for calling the CPI(M) the “‘A’ team of BJP”.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi on Friday at the end of the party’s two-day Polit Bureau meeting, Mr. Yechury said: “Every party has the right to take their own path. Going to people is a good thing. AAP is also doing it in its own way. How many days they spend and where is their prerogative, but the people will of course draw their own conclusions.”

To another question specifically pointing out Mr. Ramesh’s tweet calling CPI(M) the “’A’ team of BJP”, he hit out by saying, “Kerala is the only State where BJP has zero legislators. And who did this? It is the Left Democratic Front that stopped the BJP’s expansion in Kerala. And as far as A or B team is concerned, they should look at Goa before levelling such allegations.”

According to the sources, the party’s Polit Bureau also discussed the Bharat Jodo Yatra and its own sharp reaction to the Congress’s decision to spend 18 days in Kerala. The CPI(M) from its official handle had tweeted “Bharat Jodo or Seat Jodo- 18 days in Kerala, 2 days in UP. Strange way to fight BJP-RSS.” It was felt that the responsibility of countering the Congress should be left to the party’s Kerala unit.

Mr. Yechury reiterated his stand that a national-level pre-poll alliance before the Lok Sabha election of 2024 was not possible. The electoral understanding had to be arrived at in every State addressing the unique political factors of each of them.

“We need to understand that we have a parliamentary democracy not a presidential form of democracy,” he said, explaining that an Opposition alliance could be formulated only once the results came in.

Having added that caveat, he praised both TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and NCP chief Sharad Pawar for initiating a dialogue within the Opposition parties.

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