How CPI(M) candidates in Telangana Assembly poll are unwittingly helping the ‘bourgeois’ BRS

The fall of the communists in an agrarian state is inexplicable. The undivided CPI had won as many as 51 seats in 1962 in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, and even after the party’s split in 1964, the CPI won 31 and CPI(M) 22 seats.

And then the nosedive began, and the CPI now has to be content with crumbs thrown at it.

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The communist prospects

In the Telangana electoral battlefield, neither party has any prospects of winning. The CPI, confined to Kothagudem, is looking to the Congress to help it surmount the challenge posed by the BRS.

The BRS nominee, Vanama Venkateswara Rao, is originally from the Congress stock, and therefore even though the Congress is extending support, the CPI cannot afford to count its chickens before they are hatched.

The CPI and CPI(M) had learnt a bitter lesson from the “bourgeoise” BRS after extending full support to its candidate in the Munugode by-election last year. The communists, hoping that riding shotgun with the BRS would be the beginning of an exciting journey into the future, helped the party win Munugode.

But soon, the BRS leaders even stopped taking their phone calls.

When the Assembly elections arrived, the gates of Pragati Bhavan, the BRS headquarters, remained closed to them. Realising that they had been taken for a ride, they yelled betrayal and described the BRS chief as the one who bit the hand that had fed him.

After pulling themselves together, the communist parties decided to seek the support of the Congress. But the talks with the grand old party soon hit a roadblock as it was not ready to cede any demanded seat. The CPI(M), fed up with the Congress attitude, left the negotiation table but the CPI, which hung on, got one seat.

Miffed by the humiliation, the CPI(M) announced candidates for 19 seats. As it is part of the INDIA bloc, it gave a call to its cadres to support the CPI in Kothagudem. Elsewhere, it asked the workers to back the party that could defeat the BJP.

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CPI(M) helping BRS

But the CPI(M) is unwittingly helping the ruling party. Its presence in the fray would only aid the BRS as it is likely to cut into the anti-incumbency vote. The Left party has urged its cadres to support the Congress, but given the BRS’s finesse in micro-managing the election, no one can be sure where the CPI(M) votes would finally go.

Most of the 19 Assembly segments where the CPI(M) is contesting are in the erstwhile Khammam and Nalgonda districts where the Congress is strong. With the CPI(M) ending up as a rival, the Congress is a bit worried over the possibility of the Left party eating into the anti-BRS vote that would otherwise come its way.

Badrachalam, Wyra, and Miryalaguda are among the segments where the CPI(M) could play spoilsport for the Congress.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, the CPI(M) contested 26 seats without being part of any alliance. It polled about 90,000 votes in all the segments put together.

The CPI contested three seats as part of a grand alliance and polled about 83,000 votes. Neither party won even one seat. The percentage of votes polled by the CPI(M) was a mere 0.44 percent.

The CPI(M) has been maintaining that it was in the contest only to ensure the defeat of the BJP as it portends danger to the secular fabric of India.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechuri has said that since his party is part of the INDIA bloc, he is appealing to the party workers to support the Congress where the CPI(M) does not have a candidate.

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Will CPI(M) upset Congress applecart?

But CPI(M) state secretary Thammineni Veerabhdaram’s appeal, after announcing the candidates for 19 seats, was a tad different. In segments where the BJP is strong, he urged party workers to support the party that is capable of defeating it, implying that it could be either the Congress or the BRS.

Political analyst Telakapalli Ravi said that from the CPI(M)’s perspective, its stand appeared to be in the proper direction as its main aim was to defeat the BJP. That is why Veerabhadram said that in places where the BJP is strong, the party workers should support the party —  whether it is the Congress or the BRS — that can bring the saffron party down.

In the process, the CPI(M) might hurt the interest of the Congress in some places though it is part of the Congress-led INDIA bloc, But the Left party wants to see the last of the BJP.

Ravi felt there was no dichotomy in the line the CPI(M) had taken. When Yechuri said one should support the Congress wherever the CPI(M) is not contesting, he was speaking in general terms, keeping the entire national scenario in mind. Both Yechuri and Veerbhadram were clear that the BJP should go.

He, however, said that Congress’s prospects might be affected in Palair, Bhadrachalam, Madhira, Wyra, Illendu, Miryalaguda, and Ibrahimpatnam because the CPI(M) has a significant vote share in these segments.

Interestingly, Veerabhadram, after withdrawing from the alliance talks from the Congress, said that the first seat that the Congress would lose would be Madhira from where CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is seeking re-election.

It remains to be seen to what extent the CPI(M) will upset the Congress applecart.