The CPI (M) will continue to oppose the BJP as well as the AIADMK, its state secretary K Balakrishnan said in Coimbatore on Friday, September 29, 2023.
“AIADMK exiting the BJP-led NDA is a good decision and the CPI-M remains committed steadfast in wiping out the BJP from the political map of the country. Having seen the rule by AIADMK the CPI-M will oppose the AIADMK as well,” he told journalists.
Mr. Balakrishnan hailed the decision of the AIADMK to exit the NDA but he felt the grounds for exiting should not be merely the speeches of the party’s state president K. Annamalai and it looks a mockery. Ideally, the AIADMK should have cited the BJP’s ideologies as the reason.
To a query on the possibility of a third front, Mr. Balakrishnan said there may be third, fourth and fifth fronts in Tamil Nadu but as far as CPI (M) is concerned, the only front is the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance and the INDIA bloc.
When reporters asked about the MSME strike in Tamil Nadu citing the power tariff hike, he said the party had been promptly pointing out the mistakes of the DMK government. Twelve-hour work rule was withdrawn when the CPI (M) pointed it out that it would hit the workforce hard.
‘Will persuade DMK for Madurai, Coimbatore Lok Sabha seats’
On the constituencies that the CPI (M) will contest in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Balakrishnan said the CPI (M) will repeat the 2019 formula and will persuade DMK to allocate the Madurai and Coimbatore Lok Sabha seats.
On the Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections of the INDIA bloc, the parties in the alliance believe that one should seek votes based on ideology and should not be based on an individual.
He hailed the Madras High Court verdict upholding the lower court’s verdict convicting the entire bureaucratic machinery involved in the 1992 Vachathi incident, in which 18 women were sexually-assaulted and their livelihood means were destroyed.
Terming the Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi as a staunch RSS man, he questioned the moral propriety of the Governor to send out the invites to celebrate Gandhi Jayanthi, especially when RSS functionaries were involved in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.
He also took on Mr. Annamalai for his speech in Coimbatore wherein he questioned how come P.R. Natarajan was Coimbatore MP without contributing for development.
Cauvery issue
He urged the Tamil Nadu government to form a cotton corporation to procure cotton from the farmers. GST is crippling the MSME’s, MPs have petitioned the cabinet to reduce or withdraw the GST on MSME’s. but nothing was done so far
Ridiculing Mr. Annamalai over the Karnataka state unit of the BJP conducting bandh opposing release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, Mr. Balakrishnan said South West monsoon deficit was only 27 per cent in Karnataka and water in reservoirs were 52 per cent.
He also stated that Karnataka was hiding water in check dams, lakes and ponds, that is why 27 per cent rainfall has resulted in 48 per cent shortage of water in reservoirs.
He also flayed the Karnataka Congress government for lacking decency for the sake of political gains and being submissive to the bandh call given by the BJP. Is it not unconstitutional to act against the Supreme Court verdict and the rulings of the Cauvery Water Regulation Commission and Cauvery Water Management Authority, he asked.
Welcoming the High Court order directing retrieval of land parcels from BJP Coimbatore district president Uthamaramasamy and Singnallur AIADMK legislator K.R. Jayaraman, he urged the Tamil Nadu government to take action against those involved in encroachment and officials who colluded with them.
He believed the National Investigating Agency (NIA) was crossing its limits and said, in the car bomb blast case in Coimbatore, the NIA was conducting searches at Arabic schools and wanted to search the students’ houses. Its intentions are clear that the NIA wanted to implicate more youth from the minority community, he claimed.