COIMBATORE: Communist Party of India (CPI) leader R Mutharasan on Sunday said they did not reduce the number of seats to contest in the upcoming assembly polls out of pressure from DMK.
Speaking to the media in Coimbatore, the party’s former state secretary dismissed speculation of strain within their alliance, while asserting that the CPI would not yield to pressure. “DMK is not BJP to pressurise, and CPI is not AIADMK to get submissive,” he said.
Claiming that the secular progressive alliance (SPA) led by DMK in Tamil Nadu has endured for over a decade because it is rooted in shared ideology rather than electoral expediency, Mutharasan said, “Seat sharing is not an issue for us. What matters is identifying the real threat.”
Further, the CPI leader said the RSS posed a danger, with certain forces in Tamil Nadu supporting their expansion. “It could pose danger, not only to the state, but to the country as a whole. So our alliance with DMK was aimed at countering these forces. Therefore, we are not worried about either an increase or a decrease in seats,” he said, while downplaying concerns over seat allocation.
Taking a dig at the BJP-led Union government for its preferential treatment for BJP-ruled states, while neglecting Tamil Nadu, Mutharasan said that such discrimination undermines the unity of the nation. He also exuded confidence that the candidates of the DMK-led alliance would secure victory in all ten assembly constituencies in Coimbatore.