The Hindu : National : Secular vote should not be divided: Yechury

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Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

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National

Secular vote should not be divided: Yechury

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, SEPT. 14. A senior Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, said today that the secular vote in Maharashtra should not be divided and that communal forces must not gain from this division.

Speaking at a meet-the-press programme, Mr. Yechury said the CPI(M)'s Maharashtra State Committee met today and decided to contest 18 seats in the coming Assembly elections. However, the party which holds two seats in the present Assembly, was also talking to the Congress for seat-sharing.

In the 18 constituencies, the CPI(M) would appeal for support to other like-minded parties, in return, it would support the secular parties in the seats where it was not contesting.

Mr. Yechury said that whenever the Congress confronted communalism, it benefited. The communal forces in the State were raking up the issue of Savarkar, Afzal Khan's tomb and the tiranga yatra, but they would have very little impact on the voters. He said the CPI(M) was not functioning like a "remote control" and the Centre was very much in control. The coordination committee was set up precisely to debate proposals which the Centre wanted to bring in, and wherever there were disagreements, the CPI(M) had voiced them.

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