CHENNAI: The CPI will take a decision on contesting the Tiruchirapalli East assembly constituency by-election after holding consultations once the poll schedule is officially announced, the party's Tamil Nadu State Secretary M Veerapandian said on Friday.
Speaking to reporters here, Veerapandian asserted that Communist parties possess the "moral strength" to field candidates in all constituencies in India.
"Once the by-election is announced, the Communists will meet and take a decision. We will tell you that decision," he said.
Clarifying the Left party's political stance, he identified the RSS and the BJP as their primary ideological and political adversaries. "Parties like the AIADMK, DMK, TVK, and Naam Tamilar Katchi are not our enemy forces," Veerapandian noted. "Our political enmity is only with the RSS and BJP".
He added that the CPI's alliance choices will depend entirely on which parties staunchly oppose the policies of the RSS and BJP, stating that it would be good if AIADMK quit the BJP alliance.
Evaluating the six-month-old TVK government, the CPI leader advised the ruling dispensation to align itself with the poor and the working class, rather than corporates and bureaucrats. While acknowledging the government's move to waive crop loans, he pointed out that the core demands of sanitation workers, Anganwadi staff, and farmers remain unaddressed.
Veerapandian strongly urged Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay to reconsider the disbanding of the High-Level Committee on Union–State Relations led by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Kurian Joseph -- constituted by former chief minister M K Stalin.
Taking a swipe at the chief minister's silence on student protests and the deprivation of voting rights, the CPI leader said that while the official respect must be given to the prime minister, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's voice must be the battle cry when state rights are bypassed.
Hitting out at the Union government over the economy, the Left leader alleged that only a fraction of printed currency is in actual circulation, with newly printed Rs 500 notes being hoarded and failing to reach the hands of the common man.
Though the left parties, CPI and CPI(M), extend outside support to the TVK-led coalition government in the state, they contested as a separate bloc in the recently concluded Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls, with CPI fielding a candidate in Dharapuram and CPI(M) contesting in Madurantakam.