Left plans new tie-up in Assam

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 7. With the Asom Gana Parishad preferring to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Left Parties are working on a new arrangement in Assam ahead of the May 10 Assembly polls, but the situation remains fluid.

The Left parties were forced to snap ties with the ruling AGP soon after it opened a formal dialogue with the BJP. Queering the pitch was the initial suggestion of the CPI State leader, Mr. Promode Gogoi, that an understanding with the Congress could be worked out in an effort to bring together all Left, democratic and secular parties to prevent the AGP/BJP from coming to power. The CPI had contested 14 of the 126 seats in Assam in 1996 in alliance with the AGP, and Mr. Gogoi was a Minister in the P. K. Mahanta Cabinet till he resigned last week.

However, perhaps piqued by the Congress-Trinamool arrangement in West Bengal, the CPI(M) made it clear that there was no place for the Congress in a Left and secular alliance in Assam. But, the situation was still not clear with meetings at the State level still going on.

As of now, the only point of agreement between the two Left parties was their opposition to the AGP and its new partner, the BJP. The CPI feels that arriving at a possible understanding with the Congress may not be out of place. During the 1999 general elections, the Congress left the Bhatinda Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab for the CPI in a State-level adjustment which was reciprocated in an Assembly bypoll last year.

When contacted the CPI general secretary, Mr. A. B. Bardhan, admitted that the situation in Assam was not yet clear except that the AGP had moved over to the BJP camp. ``We are clear that we cannot be with a party that is aligning with the BJP.'' However, Assam being a ``very sensitive State'', one had to strive for building a Left, democratic and secular combination to challenge the BJP-AGP combine, he said.

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Section  : National
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