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The Left is softening its stand on two 'Cs' in these elections:
Corruption and Congress (I) in order to prevent the saffron
combine from gaining seats in Bihar and Maharashtra.
In a climbdown on its tough position against a 'corruption-
tainted' RJD chief, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, the Left will try and
persuade the fractured Janata Dal (JD) in Bihar not to contest
all the seats in the state to prevent the splitting of the
'secular' vote, which will benefit the BJP-Samata alliance.
In other words, the Left will not mind the RJD contesting a good
number of seats without interference from other 'secular'
parties.
The CPI and CPI(M) is part of the 17-party alliance in the state
which includes the JD, CPI(ML) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).
"It was decided in our national council that rather than fighting
everywhere, winnability of seats should be the criteria in Bihar
for the Left and the JD and the SP.
However, Laloo Prasad is not making things easier for us by being
totally unapologetic about the charges against him in the animal
husbandry seam," said a senior CPI leader.
Neither is the JD going to make things easier for the Communists
matter. The Left has an almost insurmountable task on its hands
trying to convince its allies in Bihar to fight only a certain
number of seats as the JD state unit has already announced that
it will field all its members of the dissolved Lok Sabha from
Bihar.
It maybe recalled that the CPI(M) and CPI played a major role in
literally ousting Mr Yadav from his chief ministerial chair after
it became apparent that the CBI was going to chargesheet him hi
the fodder seam.
In Maharashtra, the Left has sheds its anti-Congress(I) colours
and is now saying that the third force parties - the CPI(M), CPI,
SP, Peasants and Workers Party - should fight a very limited
number of seats and help the Congress(I) take on the powerful
ommunal' Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in other constituencies.
It is obvious that the Left, by losing some of its touchiness
about Mr Yadav's scam-tainted track record in Bihar and strugging
off some of its anti-Congress(I) sentiment in Maharashtra, has
now reckoned that with the BJP and its allies looking electorally
strong it cannot afford to stick completely to its recent high-
sounding rhetoric.
The Left is expected to fight only four seats out of 48 seats in
Maharashtra and will try to convince third force parties like the
SP and JD to fight in a fixed number of constituencies, leaving
the field open for the Congress(I) to take on the SS-BJP hi most
seats.
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