CHENNAI: CPI state secretary M Veerapandian on Tuesday (September 22) asked TVK leaders and ministers, including Aadhav Arjuna, to exercise restraint when making allegations against the Communist movement, saying that they cannot be held responsible for all the acts of the previous DMK government.

Asking Aadhav not to live in the past and to stop questioning the previous government, Veerapandian said that the Left's understanding with the Stalin-led government was at the constituency level.

Urging the PWD Minister to read Communist history and share it with Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, Veerapandian said that the Left had the courage to face the barrage from those in power.

"Now, we extend outside support to the TVK government. We should not be asked to answer for this government's actions after five years. Our support was for democracy," he said.

He claimed that no Communist leader had been convicted by a court for corruption in the party's 100-year political history and said the party had never accepted bribes.

Veerapandian said the CPI had no intention of bringing down the government.

However, he said the party would criticise the government when it made mistakes and support it when it took decisions in the interests of the people. "We will always stand on the side of the people, Tamil Nadu's interests and the poor," he said.

On the upcoming Assembly bypolls, Veerapandian appealed to voters in Madurantakam and Dharapuram to support the Left candidates.

CPM has fielded P Sugandhi in Madurantakam, while CPI has fielded construction worker Lakshmanan in Dharapuram.