KHAMMAM: Curiously, the victory for the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti in Munugode assembly bypoll brings more cheer to the CPI and CPIM than the TRS. This even as the two red parties have only marginal presence in the state.
The Left parties have no representation in the present assembly. In the previous house, they had two MLAs – one each for the CPI and the CPIM. Communists were a major force in undivided Andhra Pradesh decades ago and their decline and erosion of mass support were steady.
The CPI and the CPIM now aspire to win some seats in the next assembly polls iby riding piggyback on the ruling TRS, as they did in Tamil Nadu and won some seats there. Apart from this political agenda, the two parties also plan to organise mass movements in relation to the Podu lands issue, SCCL and RTC.
Former MLA and CPI leader Palla Venkat Reddy said there was immense anti-establishment feeling in Munugode and this was evident in the Munugode bypoll. “The TRS would not have won this seat if the left parties had not supported it. The TRS leadership took note of the weight of left parties behind this win,” he said.
Left leaders thus consider the Munugode by poll as a ‘blessing in disguise’. Activists of various political parties keep teasing the CPI and CPIM for their lack of clout among the masses. This is quite embarrassing to the red leaders. To overcome this, the parties are keen on having a presence in the next assembly.
CPI leader E Venkateswarlu said, “Lack of representation in the legislatures is a big problem to us. There is no weight to our voice. We used to receive scores of representations from the poor, workers, employees in the past when we had representation in the assembly.”
Notably, minister KT Rama Rao himself acknowledged the importance of left parties in the election. This has given some confidence to the two parties and strengthened their hope to have a poll alliance with the TRS for the 2023 hustings. CPI hopes to get Kothagudem, Wyra and Pinapaka and the CPIM Palair, Bhadrachalam and Madhira in the Khammam region.
This apart, the two parties are pinning hopes on getting Miryalaguda and Devarakonda in erstwhile Nalgonda district, Ibrahimpatnam in Ranga Reddy, Narasapur in Medak and Huzurabad in Karimnagar district under a poll-pact with the TRS. The left parties are citing the internal squabbles in the ruling party in these constituencies in support of their plea for allotment of these constituencies to them.
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